Ah the Shell Band Stand…I stepped through the gate and instantly my tummy started to fill with nostalgia; and my head with flashbacks of flashing lights and the roaring of The Indiggnation. I was brought back to Ancient Future Live. Warmth roamed the grounds of the green-space, as friends and strangers alike, mingled, and enjoyed the musical styling of DJ Yaadcore while waiting for the show to begin. The venue held friendly faces, Benjie, nourishing the patrons with his vegetarian Yatties and a variety of natural juices. As well as I-Nation, with his pop-up shop or station. Dj Jimmy Q warmed up the crowd, and enthusiastically introduced the soulful Sevana.
Sevana had us at the edge of our seats, and on the tips of our toes. Her beauty is one thing but her voice is a completely different story, Valentine’s Day is gone but her sweet voice summoned the god of love. The audience held onto her every word and swooned with every note. She began with an unreleased song that was quite personal, and followed with Easy To Breathe. She gave us another unreleased song, No Sleep, which has been growing on me. Sevana introduced Love The Way by asking us to join her in dancing, which we obliged dutifully. She continued to steal the hearts of the patrons, and with every high note in Bit Too Shy, the cupid’s arrow picked new targets. Her next song was her own remix of Protoje’s “Love Gone Cold,” which she’s featured on. This was followed by Carry You, and one of my favourites, Rawle; to which fans danced and sang along, while new fans learnt the lyrics 😉
She ended her set with Chant It, which I will brag about, I heard her sing this song at a Live From Kingston concert a couple years ago, when it was unrecorded, and unreleased. That night was the night I became a Sevana fan, I knew this pretty lady would be going places. If you don’t know of her, get to know her, you won’t regret it.
Yaadcore entertained us with music until the Indiggnation was set up and ready to go. ZJ Sparks then came on stage and hyped us up, with an energetic introduction of Protoje and the Indiggnation.
The set started with the Indiggnation lighting the fyah with an immaculate instrumental. Protoje came on stage vivaciously with his first song for the evening I&I; creating a kind of reverence, keeping that same vibe by following it with Resist Not Evil. He then welcomed Mortimer on stage to sing a crowd favourite, by the cheers that erupted, Protection. Mortimer had to give us a little piece of his own songs while on stage, he voiced lines from Nice Up Di Scene. This was followed by Criminal, and I have to big up Monty here, he gave an amazing guitar solo. Protoje touched on songs from all of three of his albums, which the audience loved, fans from all ’bout came together singing along, dancing and just having a good time. Next up was Roll, where he serenated a lucky lady at the front of the audience, big up Soren! Followed by Arguments, one of my faves, I have to give myself a pat on the back for remembering to write down the order of these songs; because I was fully singing and dancing, vibes on an all time high.
He took us through Dread, Who Dem A Program, and This Is Not A Marijuana Song, before going back to some chunes for the ladies. He sang Rasta Love, where Zuggu sang the part of Ky-Mani Marley; No Lipstick, and then Come My Way. For the Come My Way, he introduced a special guest, Mosiah, on violin. He was very soulful while he played the violin but when Protoje asked him to sing for us, is when a lot more persons, especially the ladies, took to him, his voice is beautiful. Then Proto changed the energy and took us to songs from his newest project Royalty Free. He began with Flight Plans, bringing on the featured artiste, Lila Ike, who had to drop a little freestyle for us. Followed by Glad You’re Home, and Can’t Feel No Way, which featured Runkus. This high energy song got the crowd really pumped which continued into Runkus’ Burn EverytinG.
The energy stayed up when Sevana and Jesse Royal came on to sing Sudden Flight, after which Jesse dropped a couple lines for us. Then we got to see firsthand, one reason which Protoje is widely respected, his promoting of the younger and upcoming artistes. He brought on stage BLVK H3RO, Jeeby, Royal Blu, Runkus, Ras I, Leno Banton, Wayne J, and 5star SOL. Protoje looked like he was enjoying himself as much as we were. Then Kabaka Pyramid came on and dropped some lyrics, he was followed by Koro Fyah, Dre Island, and the No-Maddz: Sheppy & Evie. It was great to see the unity between the artistes.
We were vexed that the end came so quickly, but the persons in the neighbouring communities weren’t so fond of the music, so the police came and shut down the sound earlier than was permitted. Protoje sang JA, then closed off with his most recent release, Blood Money. Though we would have loved to stay there all night, we enjoyed the show fully, For The Culture.
Photos by Keon Predi Photography.
Find him on Instagram @KeonPrediPhotography.
