The Tamlins making their mark on Get Ready to Rock Steady, performing Take It Easy in tribute to Hopeton Lewis, as well as their cover of Baltimore.

The brainchild of Stascha Bader took another closer step to reality on Wednesday night with the staging of Get Ready to Rock Steady, the concert, at the National Indoor Sports Centre featuring a slew of pioneers from that genre around which a documentary is being made.

But while one cannot fault the level of performances which, in the main, were extremely satisfying, something was missing, and it robbed the event of that air of authenticity that it so richly deserved. Not in terms of the music and performers, but the atmosphere was not there and one got a sense that not enough was done to recreate the ethos of that colourful period in our musical history.

Dawn Penn rocking away during her performance of her signature tune No No No.

If it is important enough to be the subject of a documentary, far more could have been done with the venue to capture the essence and the spirit of that phase in our musical culture of 40 years ago. For a start, a couple old-style peanut vendors and "Caney" should have been imported inside the National Indoor Sports Centre.

With greater planning, more people would have been in attendance, as more would have gone into the promotion and marketing of the event. And with a larger attendance, the "vibes" would have been stronger.

The highly accomplished and acclaimed Tivoli Gardens Dancers, excellent though they were, would have made a greater impact, if their costumes reflected more of the rock steady fashion trends. Even the members of the two backing bands missed that opportunity. Talking about dancing, there should be at least even one authentic rock steady dancer.

It was a night of legends, and among them was a pioneer in Jamaican music, Derrick Morgan who stood out in dress and performance.

Despite these flaws, however, a number of the acts represented the rock steady genre superbly, chief among whom was the indefatigable Alton Ellis. Fresh from his hospital stint, it was amazing how the voice of the 68-year-old legendary rock steady crooner stood out. "Run it Godfather, run it," whispered a lady dancing up a storm at the front of the stage after he opened with the theme song of the show, Better Get Ready to Do Rock Steady.

The Godfather had the fans rocking to more of his many gems and at the end of another pleasing performance of Let Him Try, Alton Ellis declared, "God is real." This was not only in celebration and praise of his own remarkable recovery from cancer, but also that of a fellow patient for whom he prayed while in hospital.

With that said, more delightful renditions were to come from the veteran recording artiste in his delivery of Girl I've Got A Date, I'm Still In Love With You Girl, before pausing to deliver another of his inspirational messages for the evening. "There's no love if we keep hurting one another," was his message this time around.

Alton Ellis made his exit after performing a slew of other crowd favourites which kept the venue rocking. These included I'm Just A Guy, Lord Deliver Us, and after he left the stage, emcee Tommy Cowan invited him back on stage for more acknowledgement from the appreciative audience.
"Our brother spent some months in hospital and a lot of people thought he wouldn't make it," remarked Cowan. To this Alton Ellis, who was up until last Friday, was on chemotherapy, responded, "I am blessed." And before he took his final bow, performed Dance Crasher.

Comedians, Ity and Fancy Cat, brought humour to the musical presentations. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

Other creditable performances came from Leroy Sibbles, Ken Boothe, Judy Mowatt, Dawn Penn, Derrick Morgan and the Tamlins who, in addition to backing some of the other acts, paid tribute to Hopeton Lewis, who because of ill-health was unavoidably absent. And Ity and Fancy Cat were a hit with their comical offering. They all, with the exception of Boothe, and comical duo, returned for a grand finale.

Complimentary to the performances were two sets of musicians, the first, which backed all the acts except Alton Ellis, could be called the originators. They were Ernie Ranglin, Sly Dunbar, Gladdy Anderson, Robbie Lyn, David Madden, Headley Bennett, Bongo Herman, Calvin Cameron, guitarist Husks Brown and saxophonist David Dacosta, both of whom have not performed here for some time. Alton Ellis was supported by Lloyd Parks and We the People Band.

Paula Ann Porter-Jones shared with Tommy Cowan the honours as master of ceremonies.

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