QRC Outta De Blue - The Aftermath...

DETAILS
Who: Outta de Blue
What: All-Inclusive
Where: Queen’s Royal College Grounds, St. Clair
When: Saturday 5th January 2008
How much: $400 (Last year: $400)

This was my second year going to Outta de Blue and while QRC was not on my list of fetes to go, after getting a complimentary ticket on Friday night, all that changed.

When I heard that QRC was “moving” the fete onto the field, my first thought was “Oh gyad…mud, mud and more mud” but lo and behold the entire field was covered with a sort of tiled mat so patrons could fete comfortably without fear of getting their shoes muddy. 10 points QRC. (And good news for those of you who are planning to attend Bishop’s fete on the 12th).
Anyhoo…on with the review…

I got to QRC at around 7:45pm and could hear All Stars on stage.

ALL STARS
I only heard the last 15 minutes or so of All Stars, and was really disappointed that I didn’t get there in time to take in their full performance. The little I heard of them sounded great as expected and they ended their session with Woman on the Bass.
3.5 throw waist out of 5

ROY CAPE feat. Blaxx, Trini Jacobs and Olatunji “Yip Yip” Yearwood
Blaxx started off by teasing the crowd with his tune “Breathless”.
I say tease because the band just kept playing the intro and ‘wheeling’ the song and driving the crowd into a fenzy.
Another good versatile performance by Roy Cape.
Even Trini Jacobs looked like she was interested! And hear nah, just watching Olatunji does make me tired…dat boy have energy!
I was able to get a small clip of them performing Breathless.
De screaming yuh hearing is not me eh! At least ah doh think so...LOL.
4 throw waist out of 5.



Blazz performing Breathless (file size 7MB)

SANELLE DEMPSTER
I know what yuh thinking…Sanelle who? What? Eh?
So for some reason that I could not fathom at the time, and still can’t fathom now as a matter of fact, someone decided to invite/bring/encourage Sanelle Dempster to perform.
Yes Sanelle have a tune this year (Bring de Water), which she sang. She also opened with one the crowd would be more familiar with "Nothing".
But overall Sanelle's performance was a snooze fest. *yawn*
I went to looking for the bar-b-que pigtail at that point.
½ throw waist out of 5

IWER GEORGE
The self-proclaimed “Big Man in the Business” aka “De boss” came onto the stage and threw the crown into the usual frenzy. What really mash up the crowd though, was when he brought his two sons on stage to perform…he says this is for when he ”retires” they have to carry his flag.
His sons (Marlon and The-other-son-whose-name-I-did-not-ketch) have a lot of their father’s mannerisms on stage and they both tall like him too!
So have no fear Iwer fans, when Iwer get old, he have people to pass the baton to.
Iwer, Marlon and the other son (Neil Jr maybe?) get 3.5 throw waist out of 5

TRAFFIK feat. Sherwayne Winchester, Sean Caruth and Keagan Taylor
Got to see Traffik perform in their entirety and it was a pretty solid performance.
Keagan look like he fall into the mix nice and he handle his business.
Sean I think need to step up his game when it comes to the dress code, as both Sherwyane and Keagan were well outfitted in a waistcoat and shirt respectively, while he was rocking a t-shirt.
Dat nah wuk Sean.
I left the party while Traffik was finishing up their set.
3.5 throw waist out of 5


BEST BAND FOR THE NIGHT:
Roy Cape.

FOOD
No lines this year!! A definite improvement from last year.
Appetizers: Stuffed curry crab and dumplings (or is it stuffed dumplings with curry crab?), fish broth, corn soup, bake and shark, barbeque pigtail and more.
Main meal: Three different main meals: Chinese, Indian and Creole
Everything I had was very tasty.
4.5 burps out of 5

BAR
Two very large bars both of which were well staffed by Servis.
Straws and napkins right through.
(Remember what I said about the importance of these last year right?)
4.5 glasses out of 5


BATHROOMS
Nice clean bathrooms.
Running water, full length mirror, pantyshields, St. Ives cream.
Nice long lines.
QRC…you need more bathrooms for the ladies and another full length mirror.
Please and thanks.
3 flushes out of 5

EYE FOOD
This fete attracts an older crowd and older men doh really appeal to me, so the little eye food I saw was nothing to scream about.
2 cross eye out of 5
Food for the guys was good as always, cause this is Trinidad.
3.5 cross eye out of 5

QRC: The Aftermath

DETAILS

Who: QRC
What: All-Inclusive
Where: QRC, St. Clair, Port–of-Spain
When: Saturday 13th January 2007
How much: $400
Last year’s price: $400

I decided to include two elements to my review.
The price of the fete the year before for comparison purposes.
The other element is Security.

So this was my first time going to QRC’s fete, largely motivated by the fact that Machel Montano HD was one of the performers billed.

NEAL & MASSY TRINIDAD ALL STARS
Talk about sweet.
They played all their hits, mixed in with this year’s soca and they ended with Woman on de Bass.
What more yuh want?
Well in my case I would not have minded if they played Curry Tabanca. LOL.
But all in all they were great.
4.5 out of 5

MACHEL MONTANO HD feat. Patrice and Zan and Machel’s new members.
For those who may not be aware, Machel recently lost a few members of his band (from what I understand it wasn’t nice). Dean, as I mentioned before is now with Atlantik. $hel$hok I hear is with Bunji. (that last one is unconfirmed).
So I was eager not only to see them perform, but to hear them perform as well.

Machel did not disappoint.

Starting with Higher than High and ending with Light it Up with Patrice, he gave his usual high energy performance.

BUT. Yes yes there is a but. You could see that he was frustrated by the quality of the sound coming from his band. And when Machel vex…yuh does know it. I think he gave up after a while and just gave QRC all he had. Which was an hour and a half!
4 out of 5

EXODUS
Exodus was okay. Synergy soca Star Fireball performed with them and it was cool. They didn’t impress me like All Stars did though.
I heard they didn't have neough time to do a sound check so maybe that's why.
3 out of 5


TRAFFIK feat. Sherwayne Winchester, Candy Hoyte and Sean Caruth
Traffik’s performance was good.
Ii was nice to Sean back with the band (esp after they dropped him last year).
It was too bad he did not get a chance to sing his song for this year which I really like.
Candy looking like she put on a little weight man. Fix dat Candy.
Sherwayne was Sherwayne. Sang only his songs or songs where he was featured like Peter Ram’s Woman by my Side.
From Look de Band Coming to Open de Gate straight to his abrupt end with Alequa.
Yes. Traffik ended their set very abruptly in the middle of them performing Alequa.
(Inside sources say the star of the band was upset because of Machel’s 1 ½ hour long performance and they, Traffik, only got to perform for ½ hour…doh say I say…)
3.5out of 5.


FOOD
One word for the food…LINES.
Line lines and more lines.
Which I understand is the norm.
But the problem is I doh like tuh line up…fuh nuttin.
The food that I did taste though was GREAT! Especially the fish broth. Talk about nice!
In addition to the main meals: Creole, Curry, Chinese (I only tasted the Chinese) there were cutters in the form of bake and shark, corn soup, geera pork, barbeque pigtail, pholourie and so much more.
More than enough room to sit and eat your food as well.
4 out of 5.


BAR
There were two bars.
A north bar run by Servis (Angostura) and another bar run by CARIB.
Service at the CARIB bar was slow. There were not enough people manning that bar.
Service at the Servis bar was tops. No waiting to be served, no waiting for your drink. Service down the line.
And straws and napkins too.
Even after the CARIB bar ran out of straws early in the fete I still got straws and napkins at the Servis bar.
For those of you who wondering what the big deal is about straws…I have one word for you: Lipstick. I eh want tuh have to be re-applying meh lipstick more than necessary.
CARIB bar: 3 out of 5
Servis bar: 5 out of 5


BATHROOMS
The main bathroom that was being used was kept nice and clean, despite the mud being traipsed in and out. Liquid soap, cream for your hands, the usual stuff. There were two mirrors for ladies: one normal mirror and one full length.
4 out of 5


EYE FOOD
Eye Food for the ladies: not so much to be honest. I wasn’t overly impressed with the gape. No real setta head turning.
Eye food for the men: Bess. That’s the only word to describe it. LOL.
4 out of 5 for the men
3 out of 5 for the ladies.


SECURITY
I did not notice any security for the many cars on the road. I thought this was important as people were parked all over, from Maraval Road to around the Savannah and all the other side streets.
Also, while there was quite a lot of lighting outside the fete, some parts of the fete were a little too dark for my liking. Not that I expect bright lights, but still.
Security could be improved upon.
3 out of 5



Next up: Licensing fete Saturday 20th January and ONE fete on Sunday 21st January.