The serious work done by Amnesty International has been a beacon of hope for abused people around the globe for quite some time now. In Bermuda, their egalitarian influence has been felt for a life affirming 50 years. That milestone was celebrated on Saturday night with a wonderful live concert featuring some of the best local bands and singers available.There was something for everyone on offer at the Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation on Saturday evening (as is apropos for an Amnesty International birthday bash!). Jazz, blues, reggae, alternative rock, and a top shelf information centre, including a Twitter desk, made this event as diverse and quirky as you would expect from an organisation known for fighting against the abuse and exploitation of all people.Even the setting was unique: an outdoor concert ground fashioned from a triangular island surrounded by three roads. The stage and main seating area were tented, and there was a food stall offering everything from vegetable biryani to tacos to jerk chicken (how's that for diverse!). A fully stocked bar was on hand for thirsty patrons, and there was even a piñata hanging from the big rubber tree for the kids to take a whack at! This was truly an exceptional event, and I haven't even gotten to the live acts yet.So, without further ado: the show. I came in a bit after kick-off, and was immediately delighted with the smooth blues being laid down by the fabulous Bone's Blues Band. These guys have been around for quite a while now, but this was a rare open air concert performance, and it was, in a word, fantastic.The next live local band to bless the stage was a fairly new outfit called Conscious Bermuda. Now this group featured a few familiar faces from the live reggae circuit, but the current union is a fresh project that, on the evidence presented on Saturday night, is poised to become the next big thing for ‘grown folks' reggae lovers in Bermuda. The three-headed lead singer of Bigga Dread, Culture, and Flookie delivered irie reggae vocals while the live instrumentalists behind them manufactured multiple layers of heartical vibrations. Pieces like ‘All We Need Is Love', and ‘Jah Jah is the Rock' stood out, while their entire half-hour-or-so set was nothing short of impressive. This is a local band that needs to be supported and celebrated; a sharp group of veteran musicians molded in the tradition of Ital Foundation, Jahstice, and Homegrown. Look out for them and support them Bermuda!Next up was the always spectacular Joy Barnum and The Channel. They delivered a typically generous set that included at least one wardrobe change, and massive helpings of rock vocals and electric guitar. Covers of ‘Helter Skelter', Tessanne Chin's ethereal ‘Hideaway', and Mos Def's passionate ‘The Beggin' were scattered amongst originals like the dark ‘Death Blues', the freshly-minted ‘California', and the heart-wrenching ‘Children of the Sun (A Tribute to Kellon Hill)'.Joy was lovely, the band was awesome, but you've heard this all before. Why would you ever miss one of this band's performances? They actually did the Guitar Festival on Saturday night as well, so if you caught that performance, I guess you can be forgiven for missing this one, but only just!Life Sentence featuring Sai Emery was up next. They delivered top-notch instrumentals and smooth vocals as well, making me wonder why, exactly, aren't these bands working regularly? What is the problem people? I'm quite sure something can be done to get these excellent Bermudian musicians and artists regular work within these shores! I'm looking at you Ministry of Tourism.The closing act of the night was the phenomenally talented Troy Anthony, who was brought in from London to perform. Troy performed to CD tracks, which is not ideal, but the quality of his vocals made that minor detail seem quite moot after a few minutes. He delivered hits like ‘More Love', the timely ‘Next Generation', and the humble ‘Serve Jah' alongside superb new tunes like ‘Money Can't Buy Love', and the sentimental ‘Destiny' (a tribute to his wife, who he acknowledges as the driving force behind his success).Troy was charismatic and charming throughout his set, even bringing up blues band members David Skinner and Neil the saxophonist to accompany him on the last couple of tracks. This was a nice, heart-warming set, and a fitting conclusion to a wonderfully enriching evening under the stars.Each live act was preceded by a brief speech by an Amnesty-affiliated organisation. Topics such as domestic abuse and human and civil rights were discussed and the relatively small crowd were educated as well as entertained on Saturday night, which is always a good thing. This was a remarkable and special event that certainly deserved to be well attended, and will hopefully be repeated again soon, if only to get the line-up of top Bermudian talent on a stage together again. A job nicely done Amnesty Bermuda; here's to the next 50 years!