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It was around 9:30 when Sister Kafunya took the
microphone and welcomed everyone to the show and introduced a special guest for the night
that would be opening the set. She introduced a band from St. Croix Virgin Islands called
Midnight. The 5 man band was a heavily influenced
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On Tuesday November 7, 2000; the Kings of Kings tour
finally touchdown in our New York area at the ever famous SOBs night club in honour of His
Imperial Majesty Coronation, Celebration and Ball. At approximately 9 PM the Cyber
Paparazzi and I entered SOBs to be greeted by the conscious selections of Twin Sounds on
the 1 and 2s. We jammed to tunes by Dennis Brown, Freddie McGregor, Peter Tosh, etc. for
about a half an hour until it was showtime. 
Rastafarian group that had
the music and the lyrics to prove it. I was taken by the surprise at their length of time
on the stage. It wouldn't be until 11:30 that they would close out their set to make way
for the artists from the King of Kings tour. At the conclusion of their performance we
were entertained with more tunes from Twin Sounds until around midnight where it was time
for main attraction for the night to hit the stage. The MC for the night (which is also
the personal MC for the Kings of Kings tour) took the stage and introduce the backing
band. They warmed up nicely to a couple of riddims and then Mr. MC came back on again to
introduce the first act Nikki Burt. She set a lovely pace with her melodic voice
performing a couple of tunes which seemed to be some original pieces. She then went into a
cover of Jennifer Lopez's "If you had my love" and wrapped it up with a tune
done in dancehall style. Nikki was energetic and lyrical, she worked a cool 15-20 minute
set making sure not to over stay her welcome. She then moved her way to the back up
microphone and made way for the next act which was Iley Dread. He proved to be very
commanding with his powerful voice and potent lyrics giving us some conscious and serious
lyrics to sooth our souls. He even did a hype dancehall type duet with Nikki Burt which
showed up both their versatility. Up next was Chrisinti, which I knew very little about
but he provided us with some material that entertained and enlightened. He had my full
attention till he started on the hip hop route giving us his rendition of R. Kelly's
"Fiesta". Overall though he was quite entertaining. By this time it was getting
late and anticipation was growing high. Its been while since I have seen Norris Man and he
was up next. He entered the stage and introduced us to some tunes from his new album and
then going back to tunes from his previous album like "Undiluted Love" and
"Woman have patience" which he dedicated to the ladies. He also gave us the big
tune called "Bad Road" which is personal favourite of mine and ended his show
with his biggest tune of all "Persistence". Norris Man was energetic as usual
and as he pranced, danced and entertained. Up next is the final act of the tour,
surprisingly enough with all his success and hits it was the first performance in New York
for Bushman. Decked out in his shimmery
suit, Bushman came to deliver and that he did.
He delivered all the hits from his various albums old and new. he gave us tunes like
"Your Love" and bigged up all the vegetarians with his big tune
"Deadas" telling us that he want no meat......."nuttin with fur nor nuttin
with feathers". He then went back into tunes like "Fire Pon a Weak Heart",
"Grow yuh Natty" and "Remember the Days" where he pays tribute to the
time when Jamaica was different place, where violence was at a minimum. After about 45
minutes on stage he exited only to be brought back for an encore performance where he gave
us a tribute to the crown Prince and King of reggae music performing "Friends for
Life" by Dennis Brown and "Hypocrites" by Robert Nesta Marley and
closing out his show with a relatively new tune called "Arms of Woman". Shortly
after 3AM Bushman closed out the night at SOBs and made way for us to get home and get to
bed. 