The Night two staging of I Love Soca’s Soca + Festival event on Saturday night (September 24) will definitely go down as one of the most enjoyable fete experiences of the year. Concerns about the rain were not enough to deter revellers from turning out in numbers to enjoy themselves at the Kingston Waterfront for the event.

Soca + is the evolution of the I Love Soca experiencing which adds fusions of soca music with dancehall + reggae + afrobeats + pop + hip hop for a brand new two-night festival of partying in Kingston.

The evening featured acts from various DJs, both local and regional, and featured performances from Skinny Fabulous, Bounty Killer, Laa Lee, Brysco, Bayka and other artistes.

Denver Holt, one of the promoters for the I Love Soca event, said: “[This is an] epic staging to close out the festival, the stage is set with the weather holding up for everybody to come out and have a good time. We went all out with the production and the patron experience, we developed a concept and it’s amazing to see it come to life with performances from top local and overseas acts delivering not only Soca but Soca plus other genres.”

Matthew ‘Mattcamps’ Campbell, one of the local DJs for Night One, shared with Our Today his thoughts on performing.

“It was a really great experience. It was my first time being a part of something so big, in terms of production. It was also a learning experience for me, its my first time seeing something so well executed especially at this magnitude, I’m glad I can look back at my performance and feel proud that I got the chance to play some Soca for the people to enjoy themselves and start the party right.”

Soca reveller Queriise, from St Vincent, said: “The party was a solid eight out of 10. I really enjoyed myself. It was one of the best parties I’ve gone to in Jamaica. The rain did not affect me ’cause I’m accustomed to partying in rain and, compared to home, I’d say the party was satisfactory. It will never be like home because our DJs have a plethora of soca songs and I feel like in Jamaica you hear the same songs at every party and what not but it was better than the rest. I did hear some music I haven’t heard in a while and some I didn’t expect to hear in Jamaica at this one and Skinny Fabulous knew exactly how to move the crowd and I was very much pleased.”

“It was the best soca party in Jamaica this year, I’d say nine out of 10 – The artiste performances and the whole set up of the place was very good, it really felt like carnival,” said Jamaican reveller Chavonne Thomas

“I had a really good time and the I Love Soca team will definitely be seeing me again. The event definitely exceeded my expectations and I enjoyed myself from beginning to end. I would rate my night an eight out of 10 only because I am a soca junkie and I just wished the DJs could have played more soca. It was a bit different compared to events back home when it comes to the way the music is played and how often certain genres of music are played,” said Anitguan reveller Amaya.

A big standout from the evening, aside from the music, was the clear effort placed on ensuring lavatories and food stalls were well maintained throughout the evening.

Even entering and exiting the venue, the attention paid to security while keeping entry and exit smooth was very well managed.

A senior member of police force shared with Our Today that, in addition to officers in uniform, officers out of uniform were also there in the evening for maximum safety.

“We believe there is sufficient security, for this event we leave no stone unturned, with officers both uniform and plain clothes, outside and inside the venue,” said a senior official from the police department.

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