Friday night's Welcome To Jamrock show, headlined by Damian 'Jr Gong' Marley, the first of the marquee shows for the season, has literally set the stage for the others to follow. The show, which unfolded incident-free at the Constant Spring football field, delivered professional sets from the billed supporting acts Tessanne Chin, TOK, Tanya Stephens and Luciano.

The show began on time, and even with the regular band changes, flowed beautifully and was finished almost 2:00 am on the dot with Jr Gong's signature Welcome To Jamrock.
Musical juggling by the inimitable Stone Love Disco made the band changes bearable and even enjoyable for many who turned the wait into a mini-dance.

Steven Marley (right) joined brother Damian Jr Gong Marley on stage for several tracks

Performances for the night were well presented and appreciated by the moderate crowd and when Jr Gong entered the stage, with great fanfare, close to 12:30 am it was truly the icing.

Jr Gong, drawing on his pedigree, fused well-known Bob Marley rhythms with his own singjay style and reinforced why he is a Grammy winner. Belting out hits, first from his Half Way Tree album, then Welcome To Jamrock, he expertly mixed old and new. Joined on stage by bother Stephen the two gave the audience a memorable All Night and their own take on Bob's Pimper's Paradise.

At 1:00 am, guest performer, dancehall superstar Sean Paul was introduced by Jr Gong, to a frenzy. Sean Paul's 15 minutes had his hallmark hits and We Be Burning and Never Gonna Be the Same, the change of musical genres proving quite refreshing. Fireman Capleton, another guest performer, also did a short but high-voltage stint.

Jamaica's budding female superstar, Tanya Stephens, in her hip hugging jeans taunted and teased through out her set. Stephens, the self-styled 'wife's nightmare', sang praises to the 'matey' then reminded males in the crowd that she loved them too. Her set took the audience through her development musically from the late 1990s hit Mr Mention to tracks from the current album Rebelution.

Luciano, who with his somersaults is fast becoming the 'Energy God' of roots music, delivered an animated and entertaining set. Clad in army fatigue the Messenjah Luciano went through his staples with the crowd singing along and in usual style included a prayer in his presentation.
This time his prayer was for unity in the music industry "whether you are a musician, a singer, a journalist". He then addressed the current impasse between DJs in the dancehall fraternity. "Beenie Man and Bounty Killa, cut it out!" said the Messenjah before going into the Lord's Prayer.

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