THOUSANDS of soca fans attending last Saturday’s I Love Soca: Cooler Festival had more than their fill of ‘island music’. The event, which ended after 3:00 am, was held at Sabina Park in Kingston. Trinidad’s Kerwin Du Bois was the headliner.

“I wasn’t expecting all of this in September… I don’t think it gets higher than that, but the love for soca, the appreciation for the culture and the art, for me, has grown a lot in Jamaica. And now it’s being heavily fuelled by the younger generation,” Du Bois told Jamaica Observer after his high-energy set.

He had patrons thoroughly entertained as he made his way through his hit songs, including Right for Somebody, Too Real, My Faults,and Monster Winer.

Du Bois left the crowd wanting more and that they got, pushing pass the event’s 2:00 am lock-off time. A reprieve from law enforcement officers who came, saw the event continuing until after the 3:00 am mark. Those who waited for the “negotiations to end”, got an extra surprise as former sprinter Usain Bolt took the role of hypeman for DJ Mindless.

The event’s organisers were pleased with the crowd support and stressed it was not by chance.

“The most important thing is that we don’t get complacent, so we put a lot of thought into it. We actually ensure that when people come to I Love Soca, they’re wowed; that they have a good time; and they don’t think we’re predictable. As you can see, each staging is different and provides a different experience for the patrons,” Andrew Bellamy, an I Love Soca co-director, told the Observer.

The event’s theme was ‘Neon’. Upon entry, the massive crowd was met with bright colours, and several photo areas to fill their Instagram needs.

“As you could see tonight, it was a neon-inspired edition, so we had a lot of neon lights and colours. You could see from the entrance, we had a neon signing board… We wanted to bring something different from the September edition,” said Bellamy.

What wasn’t different, however, was the crowd’s appetite for soca music. They enjoyed the musical selections being delivered by the rotating DJ line-up including Richie Ras, Tony X, ZJ Sparks, Duchess, and Sanjay.