A LIVELY performance by singer Suzanne Couch and her big band brought the curtain down Friday on the stage leg of Kingston On The Edge (KOTE) Urban Arts Festival, at Redbones Blues Café in St Andrew.

They compensated for an hour-late start with a blend of pop, jazz, R&B and reggae.

Dressed in red with a floral crown, Couch started with the ballad So Wonderful which set the mood for things to come.

Taking to the piano, Couch did Together Again, which she co-wrote with Brian Jobson of Native band fame.

With the band — which includes keyboardist Peter Couch, guitarist Maurice Gordon, trumpeter Everald Ray, bassist Andre Dennis and guitarist Wayne McGregor — in full cry, she stepped up the pace with The Right Track and I See The Light.

On the latter, McGregor made his mark on vocals by moving into Marley’s Waiting In Vain. Couch maintained the momentum with Emotion, A Little More Love and Don’t Stop Loving Me, closing the show’s first segment.

After a short break, artist/poet I-Nancy (Nancy Burke) paid tribute to fellow artist Jacqueline Hussey-Pearson with the poem She Rock.

This made way for Couch who resumed with We Are Everywhere, which celebrates Jamaica’s 50th year of independence.

She put the lid on the live segment of the 10-day festival with a suite of Desmond Dekker and the Aces’ popular songs which had patrons rushing to the dance floor.

Friday’s event was a fundraiser for the ailing Hussey-Pearson.