Renaissance anniversary - a mixed bag

Sadeke Brooks, Staff Reporter

There were some glitches along the way, but for the most part Saturday's staging of Renaissance Anniversary Party was decent when it was held at Caymans Golf Club in St Catherine.

At about 1:30 a.m. there was a massive crowd at the bottom of the hill waiting on shuttle buses to transport them to the venue. But with the buses taking an inordinately long time to arrive, some patrons decided to take the trek up the hill.

Surprisingly, once there, a large space at the centre of the venue presented itself. Patrons chose to line the sides of the venue for some reason.

That dynamic meant the two bars, which were at the sides of the venue, were hidden and difficult to access.

Meanwhile, Coppershot's Sanjay played songs like Vybz Kartel's Dollar Sign, while Vegas's I Am Blessed was played as sort of tribute to the Jamaican Olympians.

After playing some dancehall songs, the selector got patrons dancing to songs like Ricky Blaze's I Feel Free. Later, he mixed Far East Movement's Like A G6 with What Is Love. The Shaggy-produced On A Mission also found its way into the high-energy pop mix.

Jazzy T took the controls and started his set with the National Song for Schools, followed by Busy Signal's Jamaica Love. There were also conscious songs from other artistes like Sizzla, I-Octane, Capleton, Pressure and Jah Cure.

There were also a slew of summer songs like Ding Dong's Holiday, Popcaan's Party Shot and I-Octane's Love The Vibes. Jazzy T also played a number of raunchy Vybz Kartel songs.

Rick Ross' I'm A Boss had one man throwing US one-dollar bills in the air. With the money blowing in the wind and some falling to the ground, some patrons grabbed them hastily. Jazzy T got the patrons to stand at attention for the national anthem that was followed by Tommy Lee's Some Bwoy tribute to the Olympians.

ZJ Liquid got one of the biggest forwards when he played Konshens' Do Sum'n. Popcaan's Head Hot also got a favourable response, while Cherine and D.I.'s Rebel was well received among the women. The patrons danced up a storm when they heard Vegas' Bruck It Dung and RDX's Jump.

Soca was the order of the night, though, as Kurt Riley started selecting. As the crowd dwindled, a few Tommy Lee songs got 'gun salutes'. The selector then went back to older songs like Cobra's Press Trigger.

Sadly, when patrons were leaving the shuttles were less frequent. As a result, some persons walked down the hill and some men were forced into beast-of-burden duties, carrying women on their backs.