Bazodee Friday: Bacchanal Factory
Date: Fri 22nd January 2010
Location: Pier 1, Chaguaramas, Trinidad
Promoters: Bazodee Committee and Triniscene.com
“Bazodee Friday”, the annual staple in T&T’s Carnival season took place on Friday 22nd January 2010. The event which was a few years ago a weekly, free drinks affair that featured guest performers has evolved into a major fete experience called “The Bacchanal Factory”.
This fete in particular was on the minds and in the conversations of many due to it being one of the more affordable entertainment alternatives in this period of economic downturn. But like the economy, Carnival will rise and the show must go on. This was evidenced by the amount of eager party goers that made their Carnival 2010 emergence at Pier 1 that night.
While many other fetes ranged in the $700 TT ($115 US) bracket, Bazodee remained reasonably priced in the vicinity of $200 TT ($35 US). Thus it didn’t exclude any particular income bracket from its festivities.
The DancehallSoca team got to the venue early enough to walk around and get a feel of the party before it officially kicked off.
Of course in true Trini fashion, on our survey of the venue we were greeted by a bevy of beautiful promotional girls from Bmobile, Axe, etc who gave us the customary party freebies and directed us to their various booths.
As usual the design team didn’t disappoint in providing a simple yet effective décor which featured models donning Carnival Costumes complete with feathers, sequins and headpieces, which assisted in raising the vibe of the season.
We must make mention that although the fete utilized the chit system for acquiring food and drinks, this worked smoothly and didn’t cause any long lines as there was more than enough staff to handle all of the attendees needs. The bars were well stocked with every Carnival Junkie’s favourite beverages and there was also food available for purchase e.g. gyros (chicken, lamb, vegetable).
The evening’s entertainment commenced with the popular Kes The Band who has been causing quite a Soca stir with its latest original hits, “Melee”, “Stalker”, “We Coming Down” and “Heaven”. Their energetic and equally flexible background dancers were indeed a welcomed addition to the set.
Throughout the course of the night DJ and MC duties were shared amongst DJ High Fidelity/Less Than Zero, Hollywood Sachy and DJ Dane and Giselle The Wassi One.
The music was generally good and held the crowd’s attention as it consisted of a mix of old school classics, and 2009 and 2010 Soca hits.
The Bazodee audience was treated to a high energy four for one combo which featured Soca artistes Patch, Tallpree, Iwer George and Super Jigga TC. This was pleasing to the masses all of these performers were riding high on major Soca smash hits.
The Iron man, Shurwayne Winchester alongside his band Y.O.U. was the last featured act to grace the stage. Shurwayne as well the two other frontline vocalists of his band, Prestan and Shawn “Da Mastamind” Noel had the Pier 1 crowd in their hands as they rendered past hits such as “Dead or Alive” and “Can’t Wait” and current chart toppers “Jammaz”, “Murdah” and “Lonely Road”.
The Millionaire Family (Makamillion and Orlando Octave) were featured on the Y.O.U. set as well as the much request singers of the hit tune “Palance”, JW and Blaze.
The Bazodee Bacchanal Factory 2010 saw its fair share of local celebs including Miss T&T Universe 2008 Anya Ayoung-Chee, Public Relations consultant Laura Cotton, Soca Artiste SW Storm and radio personality Hypa Hoppa and his crew from Scorch Magazine.
The event garnered positive reviews from attendees for its smooth flow, its entertainment value and above all its incident free environment.
Many hope to return to Bazodee next year, especially if they have the benefit of paying the same ticket prices as this year.
DancehallSoca extends our thanks to Ms.Selena Singh for granting us media access to the event.
Carnival 2010 continues to move forward fete by fete…DancehallSoca.com will be on location to bring you the action.
