Morris Day and the Time brought Caribbean Fashionweek (CFW) 2016 to an end at PULS8 on Trafalgar Road in St Andrew, on Sunday night. And, despite being billed to pay tribute to late American superstar Prince, the group never delivered on its promise.

“The live music from Tessanne (Chin) and The Time was amazing, although I share the disappointment about the lack of Prince songs from Morris Day and the Time, although this was part of our agreement that they would perform Prince songs in tribute to him,” Romae Gordon, fashion director — Pulse Investments, told the Jamaica Observer.

From the start, it was very clear that this was going to be a different sort of performance as one of his aides preceded him onstage to clean his microphone. The band followed, then Day, in his self-described yellow pimp suit.

Day, who was in Purple Rain, was in full effect, much to the crowd’s delight. The largely female audience swooned to his every trademarked dance steps as he belted out favourites like Get It Up, Cool, Oak Tree, Jerk Out and Fishnet.

Despite the lack of songs from Prince’s catalogue, he did manage to evoke some of the spirit of his former mentor, using his cool demeanour and sexual swagger to coax the crowd to their feet and had them clapping and waving their hands in the air. His rapid-fire transition from song to song punctuated by small breaks of verbal amusement kept things going smooth and fast. He even managed to get in a few notes during a backstage wardrobe change that marked the second half of the band’s performance and a change in tone.

Slowing down the pace did little to dampen the energy as his constant sexual teases went over well until the finale when he used his rapport with the audience to bring a few lucky fans on stage to dance up a storm to his mega hit The Bird.

Day capped off a night filled with other memorable routines from Tessanne Chin. Mark-Anthony Abel also performed.

With CFW done, Gordon reflected on another successful year.

“CFW came together as a wonderful celebration of life for all of us at Pulse and the event was excellent on several fronts. We saw great fashion presentations and live music! It was particularly special since we brought the event back home to where it began – Villa Ronai. Our participating sponsors did a lovely job with their involvement and execution. CFW was fun but business-minded, as reflected in the business forum which we brought back this year. The well attended forum focused on how to effect better brand-building strategies for business growth,” she said.