By John Denny

Observer Reporter

(Charlestown, Nevis) – The weather would not cooperate with the organizers of the Tempo Turns Three concert, but once the music started, the fans were there and the rain stopped.

For some days before the Independence Day celebrations, a slow moving tropical depression had sat over the Federation delivering the most rain in months.

Originally scheduled for Friday, Sept. 19, at the FM Entertainment Grounds, Long Point, the event was first moved back a night to Saturday in hopes that the sun would come out and dry up the venue, but that didn’t happen.

Saturday brought more rain and the venue was moved to the Cultural Complex in Charlestown.

“It was just way too muddy to try to have the show at the grounds,” said Tempo Press Officer Karen Gutloff.

All of the vending booths were in operation with some of the concessioners cooking out front of the crowd. Alcohol was for sale, but controlled by buying coupons at one booth and redeeming them at the bar. Police were everywhere one looked and security was tight.

Artists that performed included Machel Montano HD, Destra Garcia, Patrice Roberts, Farmer Nappy, The Mighty Sparrow, David Rudder, Claudette Peters, Wayne Marshall, Daville, Denise Belfon, Ziggy Ranking and some local talent that included Watusi, Ultrasonic and Kasanova.

A troupe of very talented dancers with a seemingly endless supply of costumes added a real “Las Vegas” feel to the show. Regardless of the delay and venue change, the show came off without any other problems: the performances were all top rate, the police reported no incidents and the crowd did not leave until after the sun came up.

Claudette Peters took the stage a little after midnight and soon had all the girls in the crowd doing the slow “wine” to her hit song “Flaunt It.”

Machel Montano whipped the crowd to a fever pitch and had everyone jumping to one of the night’s longest performance. He also performed alongside almost all of the other artists throughout the evening, with a very entertaining rendition of the songs “Congo Man” and “Salt Fish” with calypso legend Mighty Sparrow.

Destra Garcia inherited a fatigued crowd a little after 5 a.m. and at a point seemed frustrated at her audience’s lack of enthusiasm, but she didn’t give up on them. The high energy she put off seemed to finally energize the crowd and with the sun coming up she finished her set with her hit “It’s Carnival.”

Sometime after 7 a.m. the crowd started leaving.

“This was the best show I have ever seen,” said one girl in the crowd. “I wish they would do this every year.”