El A Kru, opened the night's festivities at 8:32 p.m. on Thursday 26 June, the first night of the festival and what an opening! Tanzania "Tizzy" flew on to the stage with true vivacious, magnetic energy. One non-local woman said "I don't know who they are, but the female lead was just AMAZING!"

Kittitian group Grand Masters continued to keep the stage hot as people ran to be at the front of the stage and a few people laying down on the ground had to move out the way quick. Proud Kittitian seemed to be the theme for the night already; I haven't seen many local people perform, but these guys were REALLY GOOD. Why aren't they platinum?!

Then it was the invasion of Guadeloupe zouk performers Kassav, with synchronized, almost aerobic, dancing. Tina Turner has nothing on Jocelyne Beroard; I got tired just watching her. In my view, their music could best be described as African, infused with Soca, with a heavy hand of Caribbean jazz. Bear in mind that "zouk" means "Party" or "Festival" in local Creole, and changes depending on where in the world you are.

Kassav 

By 11:35 p.m. they broke into full swing, and dedicated nearly a whole minute to heavy thudding drumbeats accompanied by a swift light African drum. As the next song began, lead vocalist Jocelyne Beroard told the crowd "Where I comes from we break for when someone dies, so when I say ‘Ye Cre,' you say ‘Cra'" etc., giving the audience a little cultural and Creole lesson before belting out a song where the words "Ching Ching" were prominent.

At times the guitar was the prominent instrument, then the percussion took over, which easily ebbed to let the drums take hold. All in all, the crowd's reaction to Kassav's music was 75% thoroughly enjoying it (assume avid music lovers, and more mature folk), while 25% couldn't get into it as they could not understand the words and were anxious for the next act to come on (younger folks who may have come strictly to witness the bands perform).

During the 30 minute intermission, local DJ Ronnie Rascal kept the crowd entertained.

Calypso Rose 

Then a little lady by the name of Calypso Rose, sauntered onto the stage. She was rather funny, with a cool sense of humor as she described some controversy with Sparrow; about how some rumor was started that she "had a boy chile wid him," before she began her performance with the song "Sparrow" at 1:35 a.m.

We quickly learned that this tiny, pleasingly plump lady enjoys the fluidity of her hips and waist, by wining ever so slowly on stage. Naughty! Her music is pure, undiluted Calypso; rhythmic, pulsing, and pleasing — tried and tested old school music. A few minutes in she stopped and asked the crowd "You love me?" and the audience quickly responded "Yeah!" She told them, "Right now, I'm free, single and disagreeable!"

Before she exited the stage at 2:04 a.m., Calypso Rose introduced the singer Mr Winston Bailey aka Shadow, who appeared on stage wearing a black suit imprinted with a full body skeleton. At 2:16 a.m. Shadow treated us to a rendition of his hit song "Horn." Again his music is rich Calypso/Soca, but his performance was short, sweet and sadly ended after just 40 minutes.

At 2:43 a.m., 33 year-old Shurwayne Winchester from Tobago captured the stage, announcing "All those who are tired or exhausted, please move to the side or move to the back, this isn't for you!" Young revelers ran to be up front to see high-octane Soca at its best. He had great crowd control, and there's no other way to describe it but as pure energy. Shurwayne thrilled the audience for just under an hour before making way for the main act of the night, Billy Ocean.

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