Nichola Beckford/Contributor

The entertainment options for more mature Jamaicans has been pretty thin on the ground in recent times, something promoters Percival Buddan and Marvin Pitterson attempted to fix with their staging of Stars R Us, at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre in Kingston on November 26.

“This year we opted to bring a festival experience to Stars R Us. We wanted to deliver a bigger and better production,” said Buddan.

Buddan, who goes by his stage name Wesrok, explained that the genesis of the event lay with Pitterson, who is better known as Horseman and the man behind the Heineken Startime shows.

“It was conceptualised by Horseman in 2000, and was this its first official staging after its two year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Buddan.

For the vintage crowd Stars R Us was like a dream come true, featuring a programme of major musicians who have written Jamaica’s musical history and set the blueprint for future generations. All backed by the Fab 5 Band, with the exception of Wesrok, names such as Leroy Sibbles, Ken Boothe, and Big Youth were just a few of the top acts to grace the programme.

From start to finish the audience on hand were in touch with their favourite artists, singing along as each performer dug deep into their litany of hits. The love went both ways as those on stage stated how glad they were to be back in action in front of a live audience given the substantial lull caused by COVID-19.

Regardless of how strong a line-up was present, there had to be stand outs. It took Ken Booth’s early appearance to raise the energy levels. They 74 year old may not have been as mobile on the stage as his peers, however belting out classic hits like The Train Is Coming, and Lady With The Starlight showed his voice had lost none of its edge and impact. Booth had them standing and begging for more by the time he reached Everything I Own. George Nooks was next, slipping quickly into his more gospel offerings like God Is Standing By. Wesrok provided and interesting break in theme as his Country music Reggae fusion and rather flamboyant Cowboy suit were well received.

Gem Myers, naturally stood out as the only female artist on the programme, but as the night went on she would stand out even further on the basis of her talent. Having Big Youth, Johnny Clarke and Leroy Sibbles to follow would have been a tough task for anyone, but Myers was up to the task. She didn’t just pull the women in the audience along, but the entire audience too. Whether her cabaret deliveries of classic soul and reggae staples to any of her own hits like One Man Woman, she had the crowd in the palm of her hands to the very end of her set.

The distinctive Big Youth arrived to the energy left in the patrons by Myers and he took advantage of it. Smartly dressed, the gold-toothed DJ, danced his way across the stage to his own tunes. Still jazzed on Myers, older audience members relieved the memories on their version of 70s dancehall to songs such as Natty Dread Inna Babylon and Screaming Target. This musical sprint back in time continued with Johnny Clarke. He moved steadily through his repertoire for those that remained. True Believer in Love and Move Outta Babylon, were just a few of his crowd pleasers.

To close the night was Sibbles. He opened up his act by enlightening the audience not only about his prowess on in the bass guitar, but the fact that the music he planned to perform was a long list of bassline’s he’d done for other artists. For just over ten minutes he managed educate and entertain everyone before jumping into the meat of his set, continuing into the wee hours of the morning.

From the appreciation shown by the vintage music fanbase, Stars R Us has nowhere to go but up from its recent 2022 staging.