The Spice Route - The Spicey Aftermath...

Who: Spice
What: Band Launch - The Spice Route
When: Sunday 19th July 2009
Where: Zen

Touted as the band to watch out for in 2010 all eyes were on Spice on Sunday night.
And I mean all! From the TRIBE crew to the left of the stage to the Island People peeps scattered around Zen and everybody in between, they all came out to see if Spice would bring it. And bring it they did!

This rounds I headed to Spice solo as I only happened by one ticket thanks to my bro (but really thanks to me cause I gave him the answers to the questions which allowed him to win said ticket). On reaching the venue I was honestly taken aback by the number of vehicles on the road for the "upstart of a band", as some in the industry were referring to them (not me eh!).

I did not find a park easily and the only thing dem Zen people on the road was good for was nuttin. While I was parking I got a text from The Sauce asking where I was, I replied to her text and she told me she was saving a space for me stage front. SWEET! After FINALLY getting a park, I made my way to the entrance and inside around 8:55pm. The show was scheduled to begin at 9:00pm.

Taking up my saved position to the front of the stage (thanks Sauce!), I took a look around at the decor with the ladders draped from the upstairs area to the downstairs area (people coming down from there or what?) and the big Spice boat on stage. I later found out those were just props cause nobody came down said ladders, anyhoo...

I eagerly awaited the start of the show, cause last year I know they were on time! This year they weren't. The show started at 9:40pm and were heard a narrative about the origin of the theme. Lovely, but let's see some costumes!

Now I telling allyuh up front I not going into no setta detail and ting eh, the pics of the costumes speak for themselves and I will probably give a further review after visting the mascamp and seeing the costumes up close and personal and examining every little detail.

I liked the majority of the costumes and loved quite a few. Everytime one came out I kept saying "Ohgooooodddd, I like dat! Das meh section!" LOL.

On a closer review of my pics, the sections that are just nice enough but doh really drive me wild are the pink section Gates of Petra, the black section Ratnapurta, and the two green sections Merchants of Venice and China. The last two of which I think have the worst male costumes of the lot.



My list of the sections that I like but I would not necessarily play in starts with the burgundy section Rome. I like the frontline headpiece but that colour is just too dark for my liking and I thought it could have been a bit richer. The curtain on the back of the male costume needs to go.



Rubies of Mumbai, again GORGEOUS, but I wouldn't play in it. But that headpiece is to die for! This is also one of my favorite male costumes and I love that necklace for the men.


Ceylon Pearls is absolutely fan-ta-bu-lous. The model seemed to be having difficulty with the headpiece, something which I hoped is remedied for the road. And it was confirmed that this section has no backline, so just imagine this section on the road!


North Star is an Individual costume that again looked difficult to carry, but I love the sheer arm pieces and the leg pieces as well.


One of the first sections to make my pores raise was the bronze section Adulis. That headpiece is GORGEOUS (reminded me of Chutney from R&C), and the beads have that "whip whap" that I love.

Next was Caspian Sea, LOVE LOVE the frontline, and oh my wow that belt skimpy! Love the varying shades of blue.

A next heart stopper was Thailand. Both the backline and the frontline are beyond fabulous and detailed. The super explosive headpiece is to DIE for!

Right after came the next heartstopper and my personal fave Wings of Isis.
A teal costume with a sexy backline and even sexier frontline...look at those beads!! LOOK AT THAT HEADPIECE!!! (I personally would want to do a lil cut a paste here though, give me the backline bikini with the frontline headpiece please and thanks).


But wait doh stop there...kill meh now cause up next is Greece!!
From backline to frontline to Individual (male AND female eh!). The only thing is, I wanted to be on stage to trip Soowan Bramble...where she feel she going with that ridiculous body moggling my costume? Eh?!


Up next was some Moroccan Heat.
I loved this orange costume...matter of fact I love oragne costumes. This section had a lovely backline and frontline. I really like the headpiece detail on the backline, but I could leave or take the frontline backpack.


Make sure and get a FABULOUS pair of shades for the road because these costumes have enough sparkle and bling to blind you.
I enjoyed the varying variations of the liked the variations of the monokini/bonokini/chronokini/whateverkinis.

Some (not the majority) of the models looked very uncomfortable in their costumes especially with the oversized souped up headpieces which hinted at possible issues on the road, or maybe they were just a bit uncomfortable in the high heeled boots. I loved that they modelled the costume in boots and not the usual high heels, I thought this added to the overall costume presentation.

I enjoyed the launch for the most part, but I did not enjoy some of those models. Half of the models did not spend enough time posing and the end of the runway for photographers to take pics and the next half like they were not feeling the Carnival vibe. Put me in a costume in the middle of July and I would throw waist like the world was ending tomorrow. Smile nah man moggles...is Carnival!!

Overall, until I see the costumes up close and personal at the mas camp, I give Spice’s costumes an 8 out of 10.