For another year Exodus has managed to ward off the competition to retain their status as Panorama champions with de Fosto?s ?War 2004?...
News Source: Trinidad Guardian
The St Augustine-based band trounced the competition to take home the challenge trophy with a staggering 468 points ?12 points more than both Neal and Massy Trinidad All Stars and Petrotrin Phase II Pan Groove who tied for second place.
The band?s members and most of the crowd celebrated Exodus? fourth Panorama win.
Coming on stage at 12.40 am to play in eighth position, Exodus was accompanied by moko jumbies and a posse of well-wishers.
Taped to the silver pan racks were bare branches pained the same colour ? giving the effect of a silver forest.
Favourites WITCO Desperadoes, despite having the talent of arranger Clive Bradley at their disposal, could only muster 455 points to settle for fourth place.
Ten points behind the Laventille band was TCL Skiffle Bunch, one of two South-based bands which made the finals.
BP Renegades took sixth place with 436 points, a mere three points more than Tobago?s RBTT Redemption Sound Setters which took seventh place.
Taking last place was NLCB Fonclaire with 427 points, a decision which did not sit well with some segments of crowd who cried ?No!? ?No!?
The announcement of the first place winner was greeted with widespread approval and celebration verging on hysteria among the Exodus fans.
One Exodus celebrant, intoxicated with joy, pranced so much he fell ? head first ? right off the stage.
Panorama finals got under way just a few minutes after the scheduled time of 7 pm.
First up were the medium bands which set the tone for what turned out to be a keenly- contested finals.
While the first three bands ? Belmont Fifth Dimension, Carib Dixieland and Courts Sound Specialists of Laventille ? all gave spirited and energetic performances, the night belonged to Excellent Stores Silver Stars.
With balloons adorning their racks, the Tragarete Road, Newtown, band enthralled the crowd as they played Eunice Peters? ?Pure Party.? Peters herself was in party mode in front of the band as the flag woman.
By the time fourth place winner Harmonites took the stage, the crowd, mainly foreigners, were looking forward to the big guns.
They were not disappointed. From the first contestant, RBTT Sound Setters to NLCB Fonclaire, the last band on stage, patrons were thoroughly entertained.
When the results were tallied, Exodus was an easy winner with De Fosto?s ?War 2004.?
This tune was undoubtedly the night?s favourite with four of the big bands choosing it as their selection.
But it was Shadow?s ?Whop Cocoyea,? played by Witco Desperadoes that brought patrons in the North and Grand Stand to their feet.
In the end though the cocoyea wasn?t enough to withstand the force of war as one jubilant Exodus fan observed.
During the production, President Maxwell Richards received a gift from Culture Minister Joan Yuille-Williams for his undying support to pan.
Results
Large Bands
1. Exodus ? 468
2. Neal and Massy Trinidad All Stars ? 456
2. Petrotrin Phase II Pan Groove ? 456
4. WITCO Desperadoes ? 455
5. TCL Group Skiffle Bunch ? 446
6. BP Renegades ? 436
7. RBTT Redemption Sound Setters ? 433
8. NCLB Fonclaire ? 427
Medium bands
1. Excellent Silver Stars ? 458
2. Potential Symphony ? 451
3. Valley Harps ? 449
4. Harmonites ? 448
5. Courts Sound Specialists of Laventille ? 447
6. Belmont Fifth Dimension ? 439
7. Carib Dixieland ? 438
7. Parry?s Pan School ? 438
