Following at least seven spins of Trinidad and Tobago's 2005 Road March song 'Dead or Alive', former Road March King and Trinidadian soca artiste Iwer George performed at Bacchanal Jamaica's 'Blitz', held last Friday at the Oxford Road Mas Camp.
Hopefully not showing a trend for slated performers to appear later and later, George appeared on stage at 12:45 am. Due to being booked during his chance visit to Jamaica, George did not have the benefit of a live band but instead occasionally joined in with the tracks of his songs, and it was amusing to watch when he would stop singing at points and let his recorded voice fill in.
The veteran soca artiste started things off with his 2005 hit, Tension, which the crowd readily received. "Anybody from Trinidad?", George chanted and got a surprisingly hearty response as the 'Trini' population at Mas Camp seems to be growing steadily. He then mixed in a bit of his famous Iwer dance as patrons relived the past by doing the 'Iwer', the 'Butterfly', the 'Shadow' and, of course, the wave.
Two songs and several rag waves after, persons had their hands up in the air as everyone "from the bottom of the Caribbean" was asked to "show mi yu hand, ah want to read yu palm". In Jamaica to shoot a 'Wata' commercial, George certainly gave his sponsors their money's worth as mid-song he stopped to say that he needed "a little sip of water' before basically launching into a full-blown commercial break during the live performance. Now warmed up, the singer removed his black shirt and completed the last song before promoting pride in West Indian cricket with the hit Ah Home.
After spraying the crowd with spurts of water during a rendition of 2005's Water, George took everyone back in time with some classic 'kaiso' music of Sparrow and Lord Kitchener which practically everyone knew the words to and easily sang along. The recent radio station owner also sang other hits such as Time To Wine and Bottom In The De Road during his 35-minute set.
