Selectors from across the region showed off their skills at the inaugural staging of the Red Bull Selector event on Saturday.

Held on the grounds of The University of the West Indies (UWI) during their highly-anticipated D’Aftermas’ event, the musical showcase saw the audience dictating the vibe by selecting the genre of music they wanted to hear.

With patrons receiving special armbands upon entrance, each guest was able to set the pace for the night’s proceedings. The armbands, equipped to light up, became the audience’s voting tool. Patrons were asked to turn their armbands to red or blue in keeping with the genre they wanted to vibe to. It wasn’t long before the crowd got lost in the music as the novel idea left patrons pleased they were able to choose what would be played.

With the event being held after UWI’s annual Carnival march around the campus’s Ring Road, patrons were still in feting mode when their first choice of the night was to continue the soca frenzy. The venue lit up in bright red when host Brush1 The Road Marshall asked whether fans wanted to hear soca or dancehall music. Red signalled a vote for soca, whilst blue was for dancehall.

As soon as the crowd made their choice it was mas mania inside the venue as Trinidadian deejay Travis World, spewed one soca favourite after the other. Songs like Blaxx’s Hulk, Lyrikal’s Cloud 9, Bunji Garlin’s Hard Fete, and Pumpa’s The A List were obvious crowd favourites as the audience grabbed their nearest dance partner and gyrated the night away.

In the next segment, the audience, clearly wanting to switch things up, turned their armbands blue as they decided it was time for dancehall hits. Proving that he came armed with more than soca, Travis World pulled out several dancehall hits from his arsenal.

Drawing on selections such as Skillibeng’s Bum Du Dum, Spice’s Needle Eye, and Aidonia’s Nuh Boring Gyal, the deejay gave the crowd exactly what they asked for. But his dancehall segment did not end there as, following the ‘gyal’ segment, the deejay made sure to cater to the male patrons with several ‘bad man’ singles, among them Skeng’s Protocol, Popcaan’s Family, and Masicka’s Just A Minute.

What was already a high-energy event got turned up another notch when the widely popular and immensely experienced Chromatic Collective touched the stage. Representing Jamaica, the team, which included Creep Chromatic and JR Chromatic, came out with a ‘vengeance’. Determined not to be outdone on home soil, the crew delivered songs with a master level of professionalism as they seamlessly transitioned from one genre to the next as directed by the crowd.

Pulling out a plethora of dancehall selections, specially crafted for their crew, the Chromatic team showed just why they are one of the most sought-after crew of selectors from the island. Tracks including Tommy Lee Sparta’s Buss A Blank and Xklusive’s Big Money Popping got the audience revved up very early in the musical presentation and things only got better from there.

Not only was the Chromatic team mastering things behind the turntables but they also made way for a special presentation by fast-rising dancehall act Ayetian. The entertainer, most popularly known for the single Balance, had the audience in a frenzy as he performed the dancehall banger.

Pleased with the night’s outcome in the event’s début, Sandre Malcolm, CEO, Campus Elite, co-promoters of the event, said he could not have predicted a better outcome.

“I am very proud. The Campus Elite team is big on innovation. We always want to bring something new to our patrons and every time we do D’Aftermas we always want something that will leave people thinking, “Wow, this was a great experience.’ So when Red Bull approached us sometime back about the Selector challenge, we thought it was a cool way to bring a new kind of entertainment to our audience,” he said.

“Seeing the crowd and how they reacted tonight, being able to dictate what they wanted to listen to, was amazing. We wanted as many people to come here and experience what it was like to take control. Parties sometimes tend to be the same kind of vibe and we got the opportunity to do something novel and so we jumped on it.”

As far as delivery, Malcolm said each selector exceeded expectations.

“Chromatic, as expected, shell di place, and Travis did well to represent Trinidad and, of course, the soca massive. Everybody came with their A-game and we are just so happy and proud we were able to bring something like this to the Caribbean with a global partner such as Red Bull,” he shared.

Brush1 The Road Marshal takes a breaks from the energy frenzy he created among the crowd.