United Dance Productions, Joy Barnum, Twanee Butterfield and Sheila Smith, backed by a ?Best of Bermuda Band? led by Andrew Chamberlain, were Bermuda?s participants on Thurday night?s portion of the ninth Bermuda Music Festival.

The dancers? joyous, energetic performance set the tone for what was to be a memorable evening of entertainment, full of variety, laughter and music.

At times the sound was just plain too loud, and there were technical glitches, including what seemed an hour long wait between sets, but even this turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

How long was it? Long enough to give Earthquake, a master stand-up comic, ample time to display his immense talent.

Forget the music for a moment. This man walked away with the show. Nothing was beyond the pale for his quick acidic wit, his own family arrangements included; not blind pimps, Bible lore, tithing, Martin Luther King?s Dream. Sides were split, let there be no doubt.

Joy Barnum gave a lesson in how to do it when it was her turn to perform. Dressed in simple elegance she used her voice to render beautifully a challenging song, ?My Only Hope?. The audience loved her.

They loved Sheila Smith too, who did a varied set, which included tributes to Ella and Tina Turner, ably backed by the ubiquitous Stan Gilbert on bass, Ronnie Lopes and David Skinner, on drums and guitar respectively. Steve Easton, Latosha Coddington and Dawn Smith were the effective vocal trio backing up the songstress.

What followed could become legendary ? we waited the best part of an hour for the crew to set up ?Unwrapped?. And all that while that natural disaster Earthquake paced the stage making announcements, honouring sponsors, but mainly slaying the dragon Time with his libido loose, his wit sharp and his comedic aim only too true.

At length the ?Unwrapped All Stars? came on, the set up crew having borne the brunt of Earthquake?s barbs. ?Unwrapped? sizzled. They were like schizoids unsure of which musical direction to take, so they took them all ? and at the same time.

Musically it was intriguing; like having a live memory bank to sample. Now it was Hip Hop, then Soul, then R&B, then jazz.

Their style owes as much to videography as to anything else, their transitions resembling cuts and fades, into new tempi and rhythms. Jeff Bradshaw found a lot of meat between positions four and five on the trombone, and when the immensely talented Karen Briggs came on, off went her microphone.

But she got ample opportunity to display her technical ability on the violin. It is a challenge to convey in words the manic excitement that ?Unwrapped ? produced, with their hip horn section, incandescent guitarist, gorgeous female vocalist, DJ turntable and percussion.

Then Seal.

Drawn by sheer star power, scores of patrons left their seats to stand and sway in homage to their musical idol.

Deceptively unprepossessing, this artist?s appeal rests largely with the sensitivity of his lyrics and the eclecticism of his music.

The quality of sound production was noticeably better. The band was impeccable. No antics. Just the music.

And for the scores of Seal?s devotees, that was enough.