THE ninth annual Best Dressed Fun in the Son was filled with a smart combination of high energy, good music and great vibes. Held at the UWI Mona Bowl last Saturday, the event was themed ‘Kingdom Come’. This year, the organisers had the extra features of a Kiddie’s Village and a Sports Zone, designed to attract the attention of the young and young at heart.

The concert started at around 2:35 in the afternoon, with a segment dubbed as the ‘Young Ambassadors Hour’. It featured some new faces to the event, such as Que out of Trinidad and Tobago, Sharon Wiles, Cushnie, Dr Weir, Septimus and the 18-year-old worshipper, James Douglas. They each represented themselves excellently, which speaks well to the continuation of the gospel music industry in the Caribbean.

Following this, the stage was taken over by the big acts in gospel, starting off with Jermaine Edwards who took the stage to rapturous applause, performing hits such as My Destiny and Peace In My Soul. The hits kept coming as one of gospel’s consummate top performers took the stage. Jabez, whether you are a fan of his traditional Jamaican gospel style or not, is simply so infectious that you can’t help but jump in crazy praise when he is on stage — and that’s exactly what the patrons did.

One of Jamaica’s premier praise and worship leaders, Kevin Downswell, was next to grace the stage and led the crowd in praise with his songs That’s Enough, A Change Is Coming and Fret Not Thyself. Kevin also introduced the crowd to a new song, God Is Moving, which was well received. He told TEENage that he “… wrote this song to encourage everyone that whatever the struggle might be, that they are going through is just a test that there is something bigger in store from God.”

The amazing performances continued, with a soulful performance from Judith Gayle. The stage was then cleared for a long awaited return to the stage for Prodigal Son, who seemed intent on making up for lost time, as he had not been booked for Fun In The Son since 2007. He ran threw a slew of his hits including Tell If Unnu Ready, Real Life and Dry Bones. He seamlessly moved into two of his newest tracks from his Radikal Yawd label, God Ragga Ragga and Put Yuh Bible Inna The Air.

It’s clear that the radical artiste is in no mood to sit back and allow his country to go down the drain. After commenting on the deaths of two of his fellow artistes, Moses — who died two years ago, and Craig C — who lost his life last week; he dedicated his crossover hit Head Cyaah Hot Suh to them.

Carlene Davis and the team from the Praise Academy of Dance followed in the same stream of high energy but, with Carlene’s sincere worship. Shortly after, the message was delivered by Andrew Palau, which saw quite a few persons in the crowd making the commitment to change their lives and become sons and daughters of the Lord.

Pumping up the energy, it was time for Papa San to take the stage with what was arguably the best performance of the night. The musical veteran delivered hit after hit in his typical fast-talking, engaging style. His high energy only peaked the crowd’s interest for the night’s closer.

Bringing the curtains down on an excellent night, international artiste Tye Tribbett was simply amazing. Song after song, he unleashed a high energy party leaving the crowd in awe. I Need You, Victory, Bless The Lord and Most High God, were only some of the hits he pulled from his arsenal to end the night in fine style.

Look out next week for more Fun In The Son.