Francine Black, Staff Reporter
Revellers strike a pose at the Jokers Wild J'ouvert Road March, from National Housing Trust (NHT) car park, Park Boulevard, through New Kingston last Friday night. - PHOTOS BY WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
HUMANS PAINTED in yellow and blue came out like creatures of the night taking over the Streets of New Kingston in the wee hours of Saturday morning. It was Joker's Wild J'ouvert.
Revellers from Tree Joker's Wild camp and the Bacchanal Jamaica camp jumped behind the big trucks and let loose.
Shirtless men, women in bikini tops, micro short shorts and skirts rubbed against each other soaking up the vibes of the party.
Before hitting the streets, revellers from Joker's Wild camp were revved up and painted inside the NHT Parking lot in New Kingston. The party, which kicked off at 10:00 p.m., was filled with surprises.
Oscar B was DJ for a part of the night as he tried to build the vibes while the crowd grew. At midnight, more patrons kept pouring in and quickly got immersed in the music which included tunes from Destra, Machel Montano, Beenie Man and Tony Matterhorn.
KEEP IT CLEAN
The crowd was encouraged to Dutty Wine to soca tunes and some dancehall ones too. Renaissance, who was also there, brought in the dancehall vibes and even some remixes to keep the crowd interested.
Two hours later, it was time for performances as Dawg-E- Slaughter and the X-Caliber family from Trinidad brought their flavour to the crowd. They mixed dancehall like a true 'yardie selector' and played soca tunes to the crowd's approval. Their enthusiasm, however, had to be curbed when they were told to 'keep it clean' because the show was being broadcast live on FAME FM.
Their half-hour set soon ended and headliner of the show Machel Montona and his band were brought onstage. Like an energy god of soca, Machel wined, jumped, and split like his life depended on it. His wild antics and behaviour seeped into the crowd which tried to match his every move.
He surprised the crowd by bringing on dancehall acts, Red Rat, Wayne Marshal and Left Side at separate intervals throughout his performance. The acts 'represented' and each reeled off a few bars from a few of their most popular tunes before exiting the stage.
At 3:00 a.m., painting started and by 3:35 a.m. when Machel left the stage, the crowd had a renewed vibe and was ready to take it to the streets.
Kurt Riley, however, raised the energy to another level when he took over the turn tables shortly after and spun some danacehall tunes. Lines of friends and strangers Willy Bounced, Dutty Wined and Summer Bounced together.
This energy soon became too much for the the parking lot to contain and patrons started to head outside waiting anxiously for the road march to start. At 4:40 a.m., their wish was granted and they lined up and headed up Knutsford Boulevard, down Trafalgar Road, Lady Musgrave Road, Old Hope Road and Oxford Road.
It was sunrise when some revellers started to head home, but for others the vibes just could not die.
