Jack Radics mesmerised the ladies

The setting was perfect. The crowd although not overflowing was close and intimate. All that was necessary was for the musical fare to provide the necessary fillip. The fact that it did much more than that made the tenth rendition of Rock Away at the beautiful tropical garden that is Norbrook Mountain extra special.

Star act Luciano in his 80 minutes on stage demonstrated exactly why he is the 'Messenjah' and why he is one of the premier Reggae acts in the business today. From he made his dramatic entrance at approximately 2:00 am he was in full and total command. Taking time to quote from the Bible, Luciano worked the stage with typical aplomb and even engaged his audience doing at least one request.

He rocked away patrons with some of his favourites: Sweep Over My Soul, Lord Give Me Strength, Ulterior Motive and Serve Jah, the title track from his 2002 album release. He paid homage to Dennis Brown whom he referred to as "a Reggae great" with his rendition of Ole Man River. He closed his set with Come Away on the Zion Gate rhythm, which marked the way for the inevitable and more than deserved encore.

Special mention must be made of Luciano's backing band Jah Messenjah. They never missed a beat working in almost perfect harmony with the singer.

Luciano performing at Rock Away on Saturday night

Another gem on the night was the performance of Jack Radics, who had the women totally entrapped. In his too- short 45-minute performance, he sultrily belted out tunes like Moving Away, This Time I'll Be Sweeter, Hot Chocolate's Sexy Thing and Dream Merchant, which all had the women dancing, dubbing and screaming hysterically.

His rendition of Otis Redding's classic, These Arms Of Mine, did no less than the same. Radics' charisma permeated the stage and his audience as he urged his backing band, the Soul Vendors, calling for solos from the band's violinist, Helen Bromley and bassist, Brian Atkinson.

Representing the original sound of the fabled Studio One, the Soul Vendors reproduced the trademark sound with alacrity and crispness, which belied the passage of at least 35 years.

There was absolutely no doubt that the reassembled aggregation put a lot into this show and their performance was extremely well appreciated by the audience.

The Vendors gave stylised versions of Skatalites' tunes as well as a stirring rendition of the evergreen Dreamland, which vocalist and band member Ann Marie Walker handled very well. Also present was veteran singer, Dudley Sibley who performed his 1968 hit Gunman.

Show openers, Against All Odds (A2O), a quartet of young men, garnered some crowd support, as did Jahmel and Mickey General.
Rock Away number 10 was an unqualified musical success.

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