Xperience Equilibrium
This Saturday was Xperience Equilibrium cooler fete at 3am in Skinner Park. It was previously held at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy but well....yuh know nah....too much noise for some people so it had to move to somewhere with less people...like the heart of Sando, nearer to a hospital.
Well bai this fete was a movie although having to wake up at 1am to go fete was a HORROR movie. The commute wasn't bad and the traffic was manageable. We only faced proper traffic right around the actual venue and that was our fault because we passed our parking entrance and had to make the rounds. I can't even tell allyuh where because my navigation skills are useless anywhere south of Grand Bazaar. Worse yet when we went through that mad overpass in Sando. The fact "Southians" don't crash into each other every day is impressive.
The first thing you noticed on entry, apart from all the birds in their sexy white outfits was the stage. The stage was massive. I feel it is the biggest in Carnival, bigger than Fete With The Saints stage and that says a lot. It looked more than 200 feet wide with giant Phoenix on top one side and Saber-tooth tiger on the other.
I was in the VIP section along with 75% of the fete so I can't tell yuh how the General Xperience was. This was a cooler fete but the VIP had a food court that was like an all-inclusive. It had stall, on top of stall, next to stall. I don't like to take up valuable drinking real estate in my stomach with food so I only had a spinach and cheese pie and veggie pizza at 4am but it had all kinda ting garçon. People were making laps and the lines weren't even bad.
There were rhythm sections and tassa at different locations in the food section. There were some blasted annoying moko jumbies, a man breathing fire and all manner snacks and promo stalls. It was a proper all-inclusive set up.
As the first big fete of the season I was curious to see how the big tunes sounded on a proper sound system and the crowd response. Seeing as it was Skinner Park, and knowing J Angel was supposed to be in the lineup, I wanted to walk with my toilet paper to throw at Artistes. However, in this economy, I decided I would save money and, if need be, use the paper in the air-conditioned portable washrooms.
The fete had about 40 performers on the card. This was probably the biggest cast of performances outside of Army Fete. However, given my state I probably heard about 10. I was drinking my usual gin plus some Fireball Cinnamon whiskey shots with some people in the crew. The Fireball reminded me of my college days in Atlanta where every party was a blur and waking up face down on the floor with sun in yuh eye was the rule rather than the exception.
Mical Teja and Patrice had the crowd pumping in the dark with "Capital". The tune hard eh and I could see it possibly fighting up for road march but it too "happy and nice" for me. Probably has something to do with my childhood or something. Speaking of Nice...Nadia looked "bess" in she white outfit. Listen Nadia, I would definitely bring it back in pieces.
Hear nah promoters need to stop throwing white themed fetes. Allyuh need to understand that not everyone looks good in white. White accentuates every dimple and blemish on a body and that's just on us blokes. Had some females with some tigers in them tights that the white exposed...wait why am I complaining again?
As the sun rose on Skinner Park the stage screen played an anime type movie battle between the fire Phoenix and the ice Saber-tooth tiger. I was like "what the fudge....is everyone seeing this or has the Fireball fried my brain". To me this symbolism represented the battle of the titans Machel and Bunji. Yeah that Fireball was wukking!
Machel came on stage with plenty fanfare. The boss tried his best to get the crowd moving to his "Encore" tune but apart from a small section in the front who was hype for anything, people just wasn't feeling it. Machel real try eh but there was no...Encore (see what I did there). It was reminiscent of his "Antz" song. He brought on Super Blue to perform "Carnival Birthday" which also got a lukewarm reception. The new tune he sang that actually flattened the place was "Pull d Pin" with Skinny Fabulous and Lil Natty and Thunder. He need to throw away "Encore" and push that tune. Lil Kerry come out and destroy the place and Muddy run een hard with that "Payroll" song.
At one point in his performance of the song he has with Paris Coutain, Machel asked "who is the soca mafia?". To which someone in the crowd shouted "You! Doh play yuh eh know" and we all laughed and laughed. Yeah I have no behavior. Sorry, not sorry.
When the "Road Man" and team hit the stage though it was a totally different story. The Viking came out to the people's (me) 2025 Road March "Carry It" and the crowd went wild (me again). His road march contender/non-contender "Road Man" had Skinner Park shaking. I done learn all the words. Allyuh know I love me some Fay-Ann...yes I am reformed. The Vi-queen was full of energy and kept the pace going. I cannot wait to jump up in Hard Fete on Carnival Friday.
There were other notable performances such as Full Blown with their monster baby making hit "Respectfully Yours", meh bredren Shal Marshall or S Dot or whatever he calling himself these days full of energy, Yung Bredda and Shurwayne "rag master" Winchester, Waddicks still beating that tune more than Ravi B does beat rum, Ravi B and the queen of steam Lady Lava with their chutney hit, Ding Dong with he big hit, and many many more. The only big one missing was the soca Adam Levine...Kees...which was odd as he's from "dong dey".
The ride back was uneventful. I don't remember any kind of traffic or roadblocks or anything but then again I wasn't driving and the Fireball was in full effect. If you're a drinker I highly recommend hiring a driver to go fete because, apart from safety, them DUI fines are brutal...like the 10 am sun hitting Skinner Park.
All in all Xperience Equilibrium was fire scoring an impressive "4.60 - Excellent" on the 5 point TL Fete Ranking. It was a refreshing change not to see the usual faces in a fete. It was like being in a different country, which makes sense seeing that South is faaaaaaar.
TANA
Next up: Fete With The Saints