Saturday's soca show in St. George's starring Byron Lee and the Dragonnaires and dubbed `Socarobics Night' had a crowd of young and old "moving to the left'' -- a dance instruction from singer Oscar B.

The show started at 7 p.m. with a local band called Justice, who performed covers of more popular artist's songs. The band also hit the crowd with a few originals songs including one song in particular that stood out called, "One Love, One Heart, One Destiny''.

Taken from a popular phrase used in a Bob Marley piece, the song further verbalises Marley's wish for unity amongst his people. The band warmed up the crowd with a well rounded performance and showed Bermudian artists have real talent.

However the crowed elevated to a frenzy type level as soon as Byron Lee and the Dragonnaires took the stage waving towels in the air and jumping up and down.

The band came on stage around 9.40 p.m. and immediately went into high gear taking command of the crowd, who were transfixed awaiting dance instructions.

Dragonnaires band member Oscar B, moving with pure energy, ordered the crowed to "jump up and down'' and , "whine'' as the song "Soca Tatie'' boomed through the system.

While the entire band performed quite well, Oscar B was on an entirely different level. The crowd, clearly taking note of his energy and stage presentation, responded with excited unified dance movement.

Effortlessly switching from reggae to soca then surprisingly 50's rock 'n' roll/doo wop with a soca twist, Oscar B did it all.

The other lead singer Leon Coldero proved to be a favourite with the women in the crowd as his smooth melodic voice soothed and urged them to "shake your bosom''.

Just shortly before 10.45 the band took break which allowed them and the crowd to catch their breath. However, it took away from the energy of the night, as the crowd was allowed to cool off for too long.

The Dragonnnaires didn't miss a beat as they stormed back on stage just after 11 p.m. with their rendition of Bob Marley's "Stir it up'' performed by Cindy Lewis and "No Woman, No Cry'' performed by Leon Coldero.

Then the vibe quickly switched back to soca with a romp shaking song called "Soca Twist'' performed by Oscar B. As he had did all night, Oscar B instructed the crowd how to perform the dance movement and then went into the song.

The versatile performer playfully taunted the crowd of nearly 5,000 by asking throughout the night: "Are you tired?'', to which they would answer in unison: "No''.

The crowd moved "downtown'', relying on sheer will alone to get their groove on. The Dragonnaires took a second interlude just after 11.30 p.m.

While some took this time to get food and drinks others complained that the breaks killed the vibe.

Seasoned Byron Lee fans were upset as they were used to dancing all night with no interruptions to their party.

Others wondered why the show seemed to be repetitive as several songs were played over and each set began with the same music.

However, most people thoroughly enjoyed themselves, as you could hardly find a person who was not dancing in some way, shape or form.

In fact Byron Lee "the biggest, baddest Jamaican of them all'' did not perform as he usually does because he said he did not want to interrupt the vibe that was controlled all night by Oscar B. His performance was the difference between an okay show and an exciting one.

The band took the stage for the third set around midnight, however the crowd failed to recapture the same raw energy shown during the two previous sets.

The show ended just shortly after the 1 a.m. deadline for concerts, but most of the crowd began leaving around 12.45 a.m. soaking wet and tired.

ANTOINE RAYNOR