Beres Hammond is a legend. He has been on a cloud since the mid-eighties, dropping hits like they were quarters and he was an Atlantic City Granny trying to win the big one.

He dominated the nineties, with only Garnett Silk and Luciano rivalling him in terms of pure quality. Beres is a singer's singer. He possesses a voice as sweet as any Reggae music has ever introduced to the world, and that includes the man they call Sugar (Minott). Bermuda has always known these facts, that's why the North Village field on Dutton Avenue was absolutely stuffed on Saturday night, when the man with the golden vocal chords laid down one of his best performances in years (only because he hasn't been here in years ... he blows us away every time he comes!).

I missed most of the opening acts and all but Satin on the Local set, but the crowd didn't really seem moved much by anything until Beres hit the stage anyway. Patrue was weak, Koshawn was inappropriate (I mean, com'on, a Rapper and his lethargic hype man opening for Beres? Cho!) and Ginger was good but failed to move the 1,000 strong crowd to any significant degree. The only opening act that was really worth seeing was the Harmony House Singers, who dropped some beautiful harmonies and a few very competent renditions of some instantly recognisable classics (including Rita Marley's timeless `So High' and the stunning `Our Own Song'). They came on at around 12.30 a.m., and did a short, sweet set that more than whet our appetites for the legend himself.

Beres came on at about 12.50 a.m. and dove right into the eighties standard `One Dance', followed closely by the passionate `She Loves me Now'. The crowd was his from the start, and he held us for a solid ninety minutes of pure ecstasy, as he glided through hit after hit with the smoothness of a hot knife through warm butter. Every song was recognisable by the beat alone, and the crowd began shocking out well before he dropped the opening chords on more than a few occasions.

`Step Aside' was next, followed closely by the unstoppable `Can't Stop A Man' (no pun intended - yeah, right!) and then an amazing rendition of the international hit `Who Say,' in which Beres went ahead and did the Buju Banton verse with cool precision. And the crowd went wooly! Then there was `Come Back Home,' `Tempted To Touch', `I Wish', `Queen & Lady', `Double Trouble' and the incomparable `Putting Up Resistance'. You must understand ... this was just about the midway point and the crowd were already showing signs of exhaustion due to the frenetic way in which Beres dropped these essential hits ... it really was merciless at times.

`Pull It Up' opened the second half of the onslaught, and hundreds of happy Beres fans lifted their faces to the stars and gave thanks simultaneously. `Love From A Distance' kept it going, `Reggae Calling' lifted the vibes and `No Disturb Sign' made the ladies melt under the moonlight. `They Gonna Talk' was received with the kind of love that a current hit deserves, as was the honey sweet `Rock Away'.

Have I mentioned enough hits yet? Please forgive me if it seems like I'm just listing a program of songs, I really feel that my job is to report the highlights of the events I review, and comment on them accordingly ... let's just say that this entire set was an absolute gem, and picking out individual highlights would be ludicrous.

Well, it's right about 2.00 a.m. now, and here comes my favourite part of the entire set, two songs that I feared he wouldn't sing, and a surprise that even I had forgotten the beauty of. `Warriors Don't Cry', `I Could Beat Myself', `Sweetness', `Doctor's Orders' and the stunningly Beautiful `Love Means Never To Say I'm Sorry'. There were three songs that I was looking forward to hearing prior to arriving on Saturday night; they were `Full Attention,' `Warriors Don't Cry' and `Sweetness'. Beres left two of them until the last third of this extraordinary set, the third he never sang, although I do remember hearing him SAY "Full Attention" during the early part of the set. Perhaps that gem was meant to be the encore that never came ... yep, the authorities shut us down again (what you gonna do?). There were no unsatisfied souls that left the field that night, and we all heard the promise that Beres would be back again in one year's time, somewhere in between the announcers' shameless attempts to mock the crowd ... tsk-tsk-tsk. Big up to Donovan and Paul and the entire Palm Rock and Kolours crews ... this was a job VERY well done!

Vejay Steede