Carnival in Jamaica for the Xodus and Bacchanal bands will go down as one of their most successful in recent years. Over 3000 revellers took part in the bands’ return to the road on Sunday (April 16).

Fans got to enjoy a diverse soca selection from across the region with dedicated segments given to Lucian soca, Bashment soca from Barbados, Jab from Grenada and Trinidadian soca and topped off with dancehall music.

The morning began with revellers meeting up at Devon House before the trucks were ready to head down Trafalgar road, into New Kingston and back to the starting point for a lunch break that offered a variety of food and drink options.

Scott Dunn, managing director of Dream Entertainment Limited and co-owner of Xodus spoke with Our Today and shared his thoughts on the day, ” Everyone is out here and having a great time, we have over 3000 people here with us this morning and possibly 4000 when we go back on the road.”

The Road March picked up heavily after lunch as more revellers joined in- more people, more drinks, more soca courtesy of Hennessy and Campari.

Talia Soares, broadcast journalist and reveller on the Hennessy truck spoke about her experience on the road.

She said: “It was amazing,epic and just everything you would have imaged and more- Hennesy had a lot of special guests too, Valiant, Skinny Fabulous, Lalee and Ding Dong was on the road with patrons and we had a great time.”

The day continued with surprise performances from various artistes on the trucks including Nailah Blackman, Skinny Fabulous, Valiant, Lalee and Ding Dong.

Micheal Banbury, FirstRock Group Co-Founder & Director said, “Carnival is fabulous, we had a good time, we had a lot of revellers and we’re very very impressed.”

The day was not without its issues, the trucks had a late start going on the road and many fans were left disappointed that the day ended at what felt abruptly when the trucks returned to Waterloo Rd. Fans were hoping for an afterparty or dinner experience and many called the ending of the day lacking compared to the experiences at other bands.