Small changes colour Stars R Us

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

A LARGE vintage concert in Jamaica is a highly predictable affair - which the large audiences that attend instalments in the Stars R Us series at Mas Camp, New Kingston, do not seem to mind at all. They dance merrily along to a slightly adjusted cast of performers drawn from the same pool, supported by Lloyd Parkes and We The People Band, singing along to the same 'timeless' songs done in just about the same order, time and again.

They seem to really like it that way, so the surprise of unbilled performers on Saturday night's edition of the series disturbed the equilibrium significantly, one in a very good way, the other in a very bad one.

The very good was George Nooks, coming on just before the 12:35 a.m. intermission. The very bad was The Mighty Diamonds, standing in for an ill Gregory Isaacs, and coming on after Lincoln, Pashon and Ashanti Minott had paid homage to their father, Sugar Minott.

Nooks hit the stage after Rankin Trevor and Daddy Shark, the latter, especially, started the night off on a rollicking dancehall note. Karen Smith was sheer class and charm, doing a version of Sugar Minott's take on Good Thing Going, honouring Desmond Dekker with Intensified and closing with R-E-S-P-E-C-T to Aretha Fanklin.

All soul from harriot

Derrick Harriott had a few surprises of his own in structuring his somewhat extended set, going on the soul side of life to very good effect in the early going, and then the patter between song and in songs connecting with the audience, notably in the double-cheating song Checking Out. "I thought tonight I would do it a little different," an affable Harriott said, before Skin to Skin. He accelerated to a stirring, legs-dropping finish with Loser, Solomon, Stop That Train, Penny For Your Song and Long Story.

Then came the burst of singalong energy from Nooks, his stint much like a Usain Bolt 100m run when he had just started running the shortest sprint in competition - unexpected, explosive, intense from start to finish and leaving the audience breathless. From Riding For A Fall through Left With a Broken Heart, the knee lifts on Forty Leg (which preceded Zion Gates this time around) to a glorious God Is Standing By, it was a blast. Nooks left the stage, but his return a foregone conclusion. "Mek wi keep it in the same spot, God spot. Sunday morning," he said. How Great Thou Art duly massaged the audience's G Spot.

Slower pace

Then Stars R Us slowed down. The announced five-minute break turned out to be half-hour. On the return, members of the Minott family paid homage to their father, Sugar Minott, while the audience was respectfully attentive, Lincoln's crouched over histrionics on his father's Never Give Jah Up did not do much (it did not help that his vocals did not come through the music clearly). Pashon's dramatics on DC, slinging a bag over her shoulder as her father would have toted a much larger 'collie carrier', aroused some interest. Paul Elliot, who tends to be very impassioned, was brief and not effective in a setting where the audience was more attuned to easy-flowing melody.

Which was what was expected of The Mighty Diamonds, a vintage favourite. But at a time when the concert very badly needed a shot in the arm, the unbilled performers did not provide it. There was a hint of disconnect between themselves and the band, that indefinable lack of pizzazz which screams a deficit of rehearsal. So, after starting out with Right Time and hitting a decent enough note with Have Mercy, the Diamonds ventured into less familiar musical territory with Lying Lips and Africa. Then there was a restart on I Need A Roof that robbed the song of its punch and it was all downhill for Judge, Tabby and Bunny from there.

Diamonds dilemma

One song later, a man at the back of the audience shouted, "Oonu gwaan now nuh bredren!" Of course, they could not hear, but they certainly heard the chorus of "No!" when, on the slow song There's No Me Without You, one Diamond asked "You enjoying yourself?" and the audience thundered a negative. Still, they continued and another member enquired, to a louder "No!".

The final Diamond asked three times if the audience was enjoying them and got a louder negative each time. "I hear yes, I hear no," he said. So the handclaps started and the Diamonds soon departed, Pass The Kutchie the parting shot.

The mood of the night changed with Ken Boothe, who did not shrink from the down moment by snipping his set. From the opening Freedom Street, complete with trademark twirls, he was on the right track. Boothe paid homage to Delroy Wilson, Brent Dowe, Culture and other departed standout performers, working his way to the closing medley, including Moving Away and Puppet On A String, to take the house down.

Errol Dunkley does not have as many hits as other vintage concert regulars, but Movie Star, Black Cinderella and I Won't Be Long are powerful, steady rocking tunes, coupled with Dunkley's boyish charm and easygoing presence. He bowled the audience over (even though they wanted the tried and proven and resisted his Second That Emotion), closing with the uptempo OK Fred.

John Holt wrapped up a seesaw night, on which the good far outweighed the down moments, on a high, from Love I Can Feel through Stealing, Stick By Me and Tribal War. As is his wont, he took requests and did a line of Ali Baba without music. It was obvious that things were being rushed, though, and at 3:20 a.m. on Sunday Stars R Us was over.

Gregory Isaacs was not the only billed performer who was missing, the others being Little John and Dennis Walks, for whose absence there was no explanation. And there were too many pauses that cause a concert to lose steam at critical moments as well, that brief delay when band and performer sort out things.