OPENING night for Bacchanal Fridays was a big one at Mas Camp in St Andrew, on Friday night. The event — with its theme ‘Bacchanal Legacy: Live the Dream’ — saw a youthful crowd filling the venue to capacity and soaking up the latest soca music.

“I’m very happy with the turnout, especially as I thought the rain would affect us,” Michael Ammar Jr, director of Bacchanal Jamaica, told the Jamaica Observer.

With a quick visual check, Ammar Jr surmised the crowd may have been bigger than January’s ‘Bacchanal New Year: Fete & Band Launch,’ which was a grand affair.

“There were a lot of new faces, which is always a good thing,” Ammar Jr added.

The sea of soca fans danced up a storm to the trio of DJ Richie Ras, DJ Taj and DJ Smoke, spinning the latest favourites and the barrage of 2016 hits just reaching Jamaican shores. All disc jocks stuck mostly to the genre, teasing the audience occasionally with an EDM, hip hop or dancehall track.

With Trindad and Tobago’s carnival over, many of its top stars are slated to make appearances at Bacchanal Fridays. Destra and her Bakanal Band; Bunji Garlin, Fayann Lyons and the Asylum Band; and Kes the Band are billed.

“The theme for next Friday is ‘Masquerade’. We’re encouraging fans to come dressed with pieces of their older costumes,” Ammar Jr said.

Bacchanal Fridays is expected to run for the next five weeks and will culminate with a road march throughout sections of the Corporate Area.