KES 360, SIZWE AND NO SWAPPI

This blog entry is a WEEK LATE but an entry that I tried to avoid because I enjoy the music of all involved Kes the Band, Sizwe and Swappi. You will get to understand how Swappi came into play as you read.

Let us start at the beginning. That night started off as nothing short of torture. My friend's car died on the way to meet me. Unknowing to me my heel fell out my car and I drove over it. No one in the car realized the shoe fell out until my hubby (from in the car behind) called to inform us that he picked it up and would bring it to the venue. I felt defeated but insisted on going.

I got to the venue (it was enormous), got my car to its 'spot' then walked to the venue *after I was given the other side of my shoe.  Shortly after getting in, the models finished their last jump on the stage then Barry Hype introduced Sizwe.  He sang two versions of the same song but the performance was explosive.  In the middle of the original H.I.A. Sizwe stopped to introduce the Miami Street Marching Band (who people usually mistakenly call the Miami Heat Marching Band) and let loose some confetti.  The crowd went crazy and then he started to sing the H.I.A. remix. DJ Genesis played a track and the band played alongside the track and Sizwe. He kept the crowd entertained further by having one of the band members 'Bruck It Down' for the 'caribbean people'. It was powerful and exciting, just the kind of opening act needed for Kes The Band!

When Kes arrived on stage, the initial hype was there, the excitement of the crowd was there and by the third song, it just wasn't. It was an advantage for me to see the show from the 3rd floor as I was given a chance to see and compare the overall crowd reaction during all acts. I could remember thinking that people were dancing and enjoying the songs being sung but not really enjoying the performance of the band and it looked like it didn't make too much of a difference if Kes was performing or not. There was no WOW effect for me and evidently a LOT of people in the crowd.  Besides the costumes Kes was supposed to be the main event of the night and it was lacking. The feeling I was closest to at this point was disappointed.

All in all, the event experience was GREAT!! I was happy that Generation X's costumes were a huge success as I saw people hustling to the registration desk before the models could even get their costumes off.  Proud to see how our local Sizwe outperformed international Kes!!! A little bitter however at how things went down concerning Swappi. Swappi was in town for the cricket match earlier on that day and was going to do a little 'pass thru' in Kes 360. From what Im understanding, there was an okay from the promoters for Swappi to perform and actually encouraged. Sizwe was performing/already performed, so who again had a problem with Swappi performing? Guess we wouldn't know huh? Or maybe, just maybe at the last few minutes of Sizwe's performance, it was said, flat out NO because 'someone' did not want Swappi performing so Kes wouldn't be out shined TWICE in one night. Talk about egos. Isn't it supposed to be about the happiness of the patrons? Guess I would have done the same thing. Who wants to be embarrassed twice, by people who supposed to be 'beneath you'. Wonder who the person/persons were. Hmmm, who would have something to lose by Swappi giving a passerby performance? It was a cool scene, we got to 'drink whatever we like' during our private 4D performance on the 3rd floor.

Now that I'm actually reliving that night through the writing of this blog entry, Im even more excited to see Sizwe and Swappi for Miami carnival, cause if this is what Sizwe can do in a little under a months time as a preview for Kes, imagine what he could bring to Girl Power and R.A.V.E. with 3 months of planning!! Mr excitement Swappi himself needs just needs to perform to make up for last weeks absence. Maybe even TOGETHER!!! At the end of the day, TEAM ISLANDS UNITED, ANYTIME you have an event, I'M THERE!!!