His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Wales shares a word with Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Freundel Stuart and international superstar Rihanna.
The opening dance performance to the popular ‘God Bless Bim’.
Mega Independence concert draws massive crowd
Sat, 12/03/2016 - 12:00am
Thousands turn up to see cultural extravaganza at Kensington Oval
IT was perhaps one of the biggest concerts ever seen in Barbados.
The Golden Anniversary mega concert at the Kensington Oval on Wednesday night was a cultural extravaganza which spanned decades of local music, representing various genres and eras to the delight of the massive crowd which made its way to the free event.
It was held under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Wales, Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Freundel Stuart, and international superstar Rihanna to name a few.
The concert, though packed full of entertainment – was filled with highs and lows, not in terms of the quality of performances, but the fast pace of some performances mixed with slower acts, lead to a virtual roller coaster of reactions on the night, which ended at approximately 3 pm with a massive fireworks display.
Music lovers had the privilege of seeing the best of Barbadian entertainment, including the Sand Pebbles, a group that has not performed together for four decades.
Also performing was Spice & Co, Sing Out Barbados, Emile Straker, Richard Stoute, Mike Grosvenor, Paula Hinds, Alison Norville, Tony Grazette, Sister Marshall, Mickee Dee, Grynner, Gabby and RPB. The line-up also
included Alison Hinds & Edwin, Aziza, Blood, the Colin Spencer Quartet, Wendy Alleyne, Mahalia, Stiffy, Phillip 7, Leadpipe & Saddis, Marvay, iWeb, Peter Ram with Lil Rick bringing down the curtain on the show with “Iz a Bajan”.
Many persons came specifically to see international superstar and Barbados’ own Rihanna who graced the stage at the start of the event to participate in the formalities, but left the crowd in eager anticipation as to whether she would
actually perform as part of the independence celebrations.
There was an anxious moment when the crowd saw the name Rihanna flashing across the screen with an introduction and multimedia presentation featuring some of her hit records.
However, three Barbadian songbirds, Betty Griffith-Payne, Nikita and Ch’An came on stage and effortlessly paid tribute to Rihanna during a flawless performance of hit songs such as “SOS”, “Love on the Brain’, and “Diamonds”, to name a few. (JH)