TREASURES of Kashmir, the final night of the Bacchanal Fridays series was packed beyond measure, as patrons came out in what seemed to be thousands to see the night’s headliner, Destra. Watch out, Allison Hinds, it looks like there is a new Queen of Soca, as Destra put on a show that unbelievably topped all her other closing night Bacchanals!

The Mas Camp was packed beyond capacity by 11:30, and it was hard for most to move, much less ‘get on bad,’ but that did not stop many patrons who ‘wukked up’ to the musical stylings of the “Party Animal”, DJ Kurt Riley. Also rocking the turntables for the night was fellow FAME DJ, Arif Cooper, both of whom the host, her fluffiness, the Right Honourable Diva, Miss Kitty, kept ‘bigging up’ for most of the night.

Miss Kitty kept the crowd thoroughly entertained, as she invited patrons up on stage in a wining competition, ending with a fluffy vs skinny wine off, and to the crowd’s surprise, skinny took the crown.

Soon Miss Kitty exited the stage to make the way for the opening performance, an Indian dance, with girls in brightly coloured saris portraying the final night’s theme, which was then remixed with modern dancehall and soca. Miss Kitty came back on stage just long enough to give away phone credit and announce the night’s guest performer, Busy Signal!

Busy entered the stage full of energy and brought some of his newer hits, permanently in radio rotation, with him, Whoii Gyal Whoii, Picante and Di Style Weh She Want, to name a few. The crowd, who gave Busy a decent reception, seemed more preoccupied with the star they had come to see, and only really came to life when Busy started on such throwback hits like Step Out.

Destra Garcia, known the world over as the face of Soca, with such internationally known hits as Bonnie and Clyde, has been the talk of the town this Carnival season, as she just gave birth to a bouncing baby girl in January, and so had to miss Trinidad Carnival. It was rumoured that she would not be able to come to close out bacchanal as she does every year, and so most patrons were ecstatic when her final night show was confirmed.

Finally, at a quarter to one, the stage went dark and a synthesised guitar riff let the crowd know that who they had lined up to see had finally entered the stage! Destra followed her back-up dancers on to the stage, wearing a red sequined ultra-mini-dress with a black bodice, and to the amazement of the crowd, there was no real belly to be seen!

Destra started her set with her well-known hits, such as Behavin Bad, Season Again and We Goin Jumpin. As the crowd sang along, jumped and waved, she started her wining tutorial with the song Follow the Leader. Next came Weh You Want, during which she took the off the skirt of her costume and revealed what appeared to be a body blouse.

I Dare You was the song which sparked Destra’s own, on-stage w’ining completion which she invited a “real Jamaican man who knows how to move his waistline to come up on stage,” and a female who knows that she can take him down, to join him. The antics which followed on stage had the crowd blissful.

Then Destra revealed

“If you missed Trinidad Carnival, you neva miss nutten; I wasn’t dere!… When everyone out on the road jumpin’ I at home mindin’ baby. Well is my time now… This is my first performance of 2010!”

Destra turned the crowd into obsessive whiners with songs like, Fly, Saddle, Max it Up and I’m So Hot. Also thrown in the mix were her carnival remixes of Kerri Hilson’s Knock You Down, Rihanna’s Hard and Enur and Kartel’s Calambria, which the crowd lapped up with great pleasure!

As the music slowed, the crowd got restless thinking their queen was about to exit the stage, but it was only a tease as she hit them with Bonnie and Clyde, and the crowd in turn got wild. While still on that high, next came Carnival, then Destra said her goodbyes. Before a riot could begin however, she was back pumping Bacchanal, last year’s biggest hit, and patrons “reach a grung” with their bad behaviour as they chanted along with her. Mid- song, she broke into Palance this year’s Soca anthem, and then combined last year’s biggest hit with this year’s.

Destra brought the crowd almost to tears of sheer joy and the sorrow of seeing her go, as she finally exited the stage at minutes to two in the morning.

“I can’t believe her, this was even better than last year’s, I didn’t think she could ever top last year’s, I just can’t believe her!” came the cry of disbelief from one patron.

Miss Kitty came back to congratulate the DJs one more time and to tell the crowd goodnight, but the crowd however stayed and jammed as they slowly came down off their Destra high, finally exiting the Mas Camp at 2:30 am.