Wow! What a holiday! Even though Somerset put most of us to sleep on the second day of Cup Match, batting for a draw from 11 a.m., the entire holiday seemed a bit better than it ever did before ... didn't it? Congratulations Janeiro, and thanks for the excitement Charlie and Lionel ...

we love you all! But wait-a-minute, this is supposed to be a concert review ain't it?! Okay then, here's how it went: the date was Wednesday, July 28, 1999 ... the place, BAA car park ... the event, Bermuda Reggae Fest 99. I arrived on the scene at around 10.30 p.m. and the crowd was dispersed all over the cozy grounds, socialising to the sounds of the one and only Spanish Town Sound.

The crowd was a small one, which led me to reason that the promoters were probably waiting for more people to show up before they started the show. This proved a sound theory when -- at around 11.30 p.m., the show did start -- perhaps later than most of us would have liked, but once the music of the Chronic Band took hold of us, we surrendered all complaints and just bubbled to the vibes.

By the time Mr. Fred Locks took the stage, we had been treated to the sharp politics of Ras Mykkal's polished dub poetry, as well as other local acts that were probably stifled by impatience more than anything else. In any event, it was late, and we wanted the international stars we had come to see, full stop.

Fred Locks entered the stage singing his classic `So Jah Seh', which stood as a sparkling highlight of his short but sweet set. Many of the now quite large crowd had been waiting to see the majestic locks of Fred Locks flashing across a Bermudian stage for well over a decade, and this night became a night of redemption for us as we sang along to the songs of our rebellious youth -- the songs of the turbulent 1970s. And the redemption was complete when the set came to its inevitable climax with the utterance of the immortal lines `Seven miles of Blackstar Liners coming in the harbour ...' -- and the crowd went wild!! 'nuff said.

Next on the stage was the prince of 80s dancehall, the one Mr. Sanchez D. Now, I was a child of the 80s myself, so this was the part of the show that most touched my heart, and from the reactions of the now 800-strong crowd, I was not the only one! And now as I look at my notes, I realise that I couldn't possibly report all the hits that emanated from Sanchez's golden throat that night, so I will try to pick out the highlights, which were still more than a few! Sanchez opened with the dancehall classic `Here I Am', and the crowd was his to do with as he pleased from that moment. And he abused us quite a bit, dropping hit after hit on us like cartoon characters drop anvils on each other, and my goodness was the pain sweet! By the time he dropped `One In a Million' on us, I found myself thinking that if this man's voice was pure gold, he could eradicate world hunger all by himself ... his voice is the epitome of quality, and he wields it very well.

His next assault on our collective psyche was `I Can't Wait', which brought out the lighters as the crowd went wooly -- er, wild (sorry, got excited ...) Once he dropped `Loneliness', it became painfully apparent that Mr. Sanchez had no intentions of letting up any time soon, and we all endured this sweet suffering with ecstasy on our faces.

Soon he began bringing us up to date with the recent hits `Hallelujah', `Missing You', `For You' and `Never Dis De Man', which produced a joyous noise from the crowd, and caused wide-scale pandemonium -- this man was amazing! (Trust me).

Before he closed his downright exhausting set, Mr. Sanchez paid tribute to a man who's crown he has as much a claim to as anyone. I speak, of course, of the immortal Dennis Brown, our eternal crown Prince of Reggae music. Sanchez's final assault included the immediately recognisable `Love & Hate' and the majestic `Revolution' -- songs that reminded us of the greatness of DB, as well as confirmed the phenomenal talent of one Mr. Sanchez D.

As I have alluded to, Sanchez was, in a word, merciless! So now we were more than ready to receive the man that actually calls himself ... Merciless. It was around 2 a.m.that Mr. Merciless sprang forth from the side of the stage to enter our memories forever.

And this was, if anything, a very memorable set -- let me speak on it. From the start, Merciless proved that he was a skilled showman, opening with the instantly recognisable hit `Gizzada', and immediately bigging up local "crews'' and "massives'', as it has become understandably fashionable to do (respect).

Throughout the set, Merciless paused to address the crowd with a very stylish spoken style -- really a quite impressive poetry style that entertained us as well as amused us immensely. After dropping his major hits `Mavis' and `Mr.

Whodini', I realised that the man called Merciless was really a quite charismatic, highly skilled deejay. And despite small problems he had with the Chronic Band, he gave us a very satisfying set, closing with scorching renditions of the hits `Mama Cooking' and the recent dancehall thriller, `Gal Sheet'.

Mr. Merciless' set was hampered not only by the apparent uncooperativeness of the band, but also by time constraints. I noticed the promoter actually telling the star to stop on several occasions, and on my way out, I also noticed a very conspicuous Police presence. The entire show came to an end at around 2.30 a.m., and, for the second time in less than a week, the promoters were made to sweat because of their shows going overtime. This is a ridiculous situation -- 2.30 a.m. on the eve of our biggest holiday is not an unreasonable hour to have music playing loudly! If 800 people want to hear it, they should be allowed to ... that's my two cents, and I hope we can free up and allow entertainers of this quality to do their jobs to the best of their abilities in the future.

Reggae Fest 99 was a very well conceived venture -- it came up short in execution -- but the actual talent made it a success! Ras Chante Promotions did a respectable job, and should be checked for future events; I've recently been told by both Ras Chante and Dread & Baha to look out! BIG TINGS A GWAAN!! So put on your dancing shoes Bermuda, this Summer is about to get hotter!! ENTERTAINMENT ENTERTAINERS ENT REVIEW REV