IT was Jesse Royal who stood front and centre at Wickie Wackie Live held at Wickie Wackie Beach in Bull Bay, St Thomas on Saturday. It was the penultimate night of Kingston Music Week.

The dimunitive singer, who uses the moniker Small Axe, levelled the seaside venue and claimed it as his own with a blistering performance.

The action of the audience, who rushed towards the paved area in front of the stage once he was announced, foretold what was to come, and for the next hour it would be track after track which captured his audience.

Jesse Royal would deliver from his impressive repertoire, dropping songs including his biting message tunes Hotter the Battle, Greedy Babylon, and Gimme Likkle.

He would slow the tempo to speak to the female patrons who dominated the show’s audience delivering Butterflies, Baby Let Me Be and Sacred Place — the first track from his album Palace Pickney.

On these songs the artistry of renowned rhythm guitarist Earl ‘Chinna’ Smith came to the fore. Smith’s complicated, yet smooth riffs added melody to Jesse Royal’s profound lyrics.

He would then up the tempo with Never Okay to Quit, Preying on the Weak, with fellow new breed reggae act Dre Island, before launching into his monster hit Modern Day Judas.

This would segue into a cameo appearance by Chronixx who would drop Here Comes Trouble on the audience.

Jesse Royal never missed a beat rounding out his set with the popular Woke up this Morning.

The ‘music week’ staging of Wickie Wackie Live was rounded out by another great performance from Raging Fyah.

This band has been doing great this since the start of things year, and Saturday’s performance was no different. They dropped the tracks from their Judgement Day and Destiny albums which went over well with their audience.

The openers for the night included bands who, like Raging Fyah, have a strong connection to the school of music and the Edna Manley College.

The sounds of Mystical Revolution and Notis Productions would warm the audience in the early hours of the event. Both delivered great sounds and Notis’ set also saw an appearance by Iba Mahr who ignited with Diamond Socks and Clarks.

— Richard Johnson