It was like a movie.

In its second year, RISE has once again delivered a star-studded show for patrons in Barbados; helping to ring in the last weekend of Crop Over 2019 in fine style.

With a theme of ‘Rising Together and the aim of meshing many of the various forms of Soca music found throughout the region, the producers of RISE brought to the stage at Kensington Oval, last Wednesday evening, some of the best regional soca superstars, one after the other.

 

 

Hailing from Barbados, we saw the likes of Edwin Yearood, Red Plastic Bag, Lil Rick, Stiffy, Nikita, DJ Puffy, and many more acts just to name a few. Nikita and Lil Rick were the two locals to stand out; they brought their usual flare and engagement of the audience. Lil Rick, who seems to be having a particularly great year, had the time of his life as he danced and sang his way into his electrifying set.

 

 

From the northern islands was Skinny Fabulous and thought he has performed repeatedly in Barbados for this carnival season, he was still able to excite the crowd with a strong dynamic performance. His ‘Watch Thing’ and ‘Behaving de Worse’ produced a great chant from the crowd which indicates that his popularity on the island has only increased over the years. Freezy, out of St. Lucia, sang his popular ‘Split in da Middle’ but did not give it the full energy the song is known far, especially during last year’s 2018 season.

 

 

The ‘Soca Kingdom’, Trinidad, was well represented by Patrice Roberts, Farmer Nappy, and Bunji Garlin and his wife Fay-Ann Lyons. The Couple were the perfect duo on the stage, with them playing off each other’s energy to drop hit after hit on the packed crowd in the Oval who stay, in the wee hours of the morning, to hear them.

One major issue with RISE 2019 was Time Management. Not only did the show start well over an hour late, but the acts simply did not have enough time on stage. Most performances, with the exception of the dynamic Patrice Roberts and a few others, felt really rushed. So even though patrons truly did enjoy many of the acts on stage, time was the defining factor that prevented this show from being great, instead of just a pretty good one.

 

Related Articles:

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• Festive Fridays In Barbados 2019
• Crop Over 2019 Launch