DESPITE their catalogue of hits, American recording act Atlantic Starr were not enough to fill the venue at R&B Reggae Concert held at the LIME Golf Academy, St Andrew, on Saturday night.

“We’re just happy to be here,” said the group.

In addition to the sparse audience, the event was plagued by a late start and technical issues which meant that acts had to run quickly through their sets before the scheduled 2:00 am lock off.

Those that braved the hold-up were treated to a host of fine performances that kicked off with Jodian Pantry. She calmed the audience with reggae renditions of R&B classics like Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You and Beyonce’s Irreplaceable. Pantry was followed by Noddy Virture with whom she rejoined on stage later in his set for their duet Bed of Roses.

George Nooks was the first to address the feelings of the crowd, asking them to get out of their seats and join him closer to the stage. His hits like Tribal War, Zion Gate, and quick group of religious tunes seemed to work, getting the remaining audience members up and singing. Ken Boothe then built on that energy as everyone belted out his familiar favourites such as Lady With The Starlight and Everything I Own before closing with The Train Is Coming netting him the evening’s only encore.

Veteran Derrick Harriott had the unenviable task of being the last act before Atlantic Starr took to the stage. Their band change seemed to generate a host of technical problems that impacted their set. Like consummate professionals, they attempted to work through them delivering what the fans wanted as things normalised after a few songs. After Masterpiece, the technical problems cropped up again which became the last straw for the few left. Two songs later, Silver Shadow and Secret Lovers, the crowd was even more scant as the event dragged on into the early morning.