It was a night of hiccups, missteps and blunders but being able to see Tarrus Riley after all was said and done was worth the headache.
My adventure to see Riley, the reggae sensation who has all young ladies blushing, began as all my concert adventures begin, with me barely wanting to get out of bed. From previous experiences with concert-going I learned this time around it pays to go much later than the organizers recommend. But unfortunately showing up for a concert at 11:30 p.m., although the doors opened more than two hours before, was still not late enough. Thankfully, there was seating outside the concert hall because the first performer did not get on stage until almost 2 a.m.
Once the concert got started things really looked up. Two reggae performers who have yet to be named, and who I did not know, opened the concert. And while they weren't all that entertaining they did get the crowd going. Even with this okay start, what really didn't work well throughout the evening was the transitions between performers. There were incredibly long breaks and the host, DJ Pencil, didn't do much to hold my attention.
But when Tanya Stephens took to the stage, the crowd settled down again. Although Stephens has name appeal and has been around for ages, I must say I didn't like her performance as much as I thought I would. To me, it had no energy and I didn't get the impression that she was even prepared to perform. She sang many of her hits which the crowd loved, but there was no command of the stage and not enough crowd interaction for my liking.
Demarco was a little better when it came to energy and performance, but his jump skipping from one song to the next got really annoying. He did not focus on one song or sing anything for more than a few seconds. It was dizzying to say the least. But I did enjoy his dancing and antics which is really different than the norm. For a moment, I felt like I was in a comedy show with singing rather than a concert when he was on stage.
But what made everything worthwhile was when 4 a.m. rolled around and Tarrus Riley finally hit the stage. He came on with an energy like I hadn't seen the entire night. And having his own band on stage with him really made all the difference.
I really got into the music because it was so alive and you could actually feel the beats of the drum and the strum of the guitar strings. Tarrus was electrifying! He laughed, he was personable and really drew the crowd when he sang hit after hit like "Contagious", "Start Anew" and "Superman". His performance was just ... magical. When I looked around the room it seemed like every other female, including myself, was swooning.
What also made his performance that much more intriguing was his humble personality and the sheer fun that I could see he was having. There were times he'd let his band play and do solos to showcase their skills and even moments he got down to interact with the crowd. It was absolutely contagious. He really showed the difference between novices and professionals on stage.
Although the concert started extremely late, there were disappointing opening acts, the transition between artists was poor, and I got home a whole lot later than my usual bedtime - just being able to see Tarrus Riley was well worth the time and sleep loss.

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