Gramps Morgan, Heatwave & Shai sparkle on final night of Music Fest 2013
Shai, a 90s R&B group, was the first of three overseas acts to appear during the night and commanded the attention of the audience immediately as they came on stage.
The group, now celebrating its 20th anniversary, sang a medley of their songs to an appreciative crowd and certainly had the women of the audience eating from their hands as they strolled down memory lane.
They sang a new single, ‘Tell Me Why’, from their upcoming album which commemorates their anniversary in addition to others before leading up to their biggest ever hit, ‘If I ever fall in love’.
The group also did an encore of other R&B songs from other artistes for fans such as ‘Zoom’ by the Commodores and ‘If It Isn’t Love’ by New Edition.
Next to arrive on stage was the 70s UK-based funk and disco band, Heatwave, which managed to instil some amount of sting into an overcast night with the antics of its lead singer, Alex Charles.
The band came on just before midnight and their performance was filled with energy from start to finish. They brought hits such as ‘Boogie Nights’, ‘Mind Blowing Decisions’ and ‘Always and Forever’ to the stage and managed to seduce the audience with a mixture of their slow R&B ballads and exciting disco tracks.
Couples were seen locked in tight embraces during their slow numbers and the energetic Charles belied his true age as he never failed to make the audience dance and laugh while he bounced around the stage and even threw in a few cartwheels for the fun of it.
Earlier, The Blue Essence band started the evening off with its own brand of jazz staples. They were quickly followed by local R&B artiste, B’More, who seized the opportunity to wow the ladies with smooth lyrics and seductive dance moves. At one point, the artiste had three young ladies on stage dancing with him but his performance was largely affected by heavy rains which forced patrons to seek cover under the nearby tents and bars.
Despite the intermittent showers and a sound system that gave trouble at various points, patrons were treated to a lively show on the final night.
Jamaican reggae heavyweight, Gramps Morgan of Morgan Heritage, delivered a conscious performance afterwards as the headline act.
He too, kept couples to the forefront as they held tightly to each other while a steady stream of ‘lovers rock’ music emanated from the stage. Gramps opened up with a Morgan Heritage staple but also delivered quite a few tracks that were from his own catalogue.
Singles such as ‘Let’s Make Love’ from his upcoming album, ‘Come Back To Bed’ and R&B songs such as ‘Let Me Love You Down’ clearly exemplified the pervasive theme of love for the evening.
Morgan also introduced his teenage son, Jamere, whom he described as the ‘Justin Bieber’ of the Caribbean. Jamere sang a few R&B songs of his own as well as a few old school dancehall rhythms with his father.
Gramps said after the show that he found a special place in his heart for Tortola and after coming to the Territory with his band, Morgan Heritage, over the years there was something that he connected with.
As it was with previous nights, especially the opening night, the crowd remained relatively modest but were not shy in showing their appreciation of the entertainment that was provided and appeared to have a good time despite the discouraging weather.
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15 Responses to “Gramps Morgan, Heatwave & Shai sparkle on final night of Music Fest 2013”
oh was that in frank's time!
glad by bvi artist get a shine tho
We do.
It's had to chose what night was a best night, for all night just come like a normal night (exp) like going out to village cay,or a bar where have music & that's it, was not like a show out of the world kind of vibes.
start planning from now BVI Music Fest.