Oh what a night. The ninth and final staging of Bacchanal Fridays certainly ended the series on a high note.

It was almost 11:00 pm when the Observer team entered an almost packed Mas Camp. With DJ Bambino and the Party Animal Kurt Riley at the turntables, the ‘socalites’ were kept busy on their feet dancing and palancing away – some using the opportunity to warm up for the soca heat that was expected to blaze.

Midnight arrived and without a doubt all eyes were focused on the Mas Camp stage, anticipating the surprise guest artiste whom the night’s sponsors, Digicel, lined up to perform. Seconds later there were deafening screams as dancehall artiste Busy Signal made his way on stage.

No stranger to soca music Busy Signal delivered his singles Send It On and Push Bumper, Da Style Deh, Nuh Fraid a Dem and Touch Di Road. Merging soca with dancehall music throughout his almost 10-minute set, the deejay had the audience in a frenzy — setting the pace for the musical heatwave that was to unfold a few minutes later.

After Busy Signal’s energetic performance it was time for Trinidad and Tobago’s Kes and the Band. Making entrance to their 2011 hit Wotless, with sexy back-up dancers and all it could be easily concluded that their aim was to capture the hearts and mind of those present. Lead vocalist Kees and the other members of the band pumped out hits after hit like Where You From, Ah Ting, Stay With Me, Till the Morning, Red Light among others. After being on stage for about 20 minutes Kees invited soca princess Nadia Baston onstage. Keeping the Bacchanal flames alive, Nadia stood on her own delivering My Posse, One Island, Caribbean Girl and a collaboration with Kes called My Land. After Nadia Baston short and spicy set, the band’s performance was far from being over much to the delight of the thousands present. With barely enough space to move around one would think that ‘Palancing’ would be impossible but the 2011 Groovy Soca Monarch winners made the impossible possible as he had almost everyone ‘Palancing’ inside of Mas Camp. Again it was time for Reggae and Soca to join forces and this time it was with Jamaican songbird Tessanne Chin. In the VIP section Miss Universe runner up Yendi Phillipps, the soulful singer’s husband Michael Anthony Cuff Jr and sister Tami Chin sang word for word raising their hands in approval as she and Kees performed their single Loving You. It was close to 2:00am Saturday when the ‘Wotless’ artistes made their exit from the Bacchanal Friday stage. Undoubtedly their performance will be on the lips of those present for a long time.

The list of events capping the 2011 carnival season include Beach J’ouvert this weekend with Destra and her band, Bacchanal Tuesday on April 26, Soca at De Sandbar on April 27, Bacchanal J’ouvert with Bunji Garlin and Faye-Ann Lyons on April 29 which leads up the Bacchanal Road March on May 1.

— Simone Morgan