Krista Henry, Staff Reporter

These patrons didn't mind the drizzle, but the rain did not stop the party at Mello Vibes held at Mas Camp, Oxford Road, St. Andrew on Saturday, October 27. - photos by Nathaniel Stewart

At midnight when the rain poured over St. Andrew last Saturday the Mas Camp was full of activity with Mello Vibes.

When The Gleaner team arrived, outside Mas Camp was crowded with patrons waiting in the rain to get in and on the inside the packed crowd was dancing away to the hit song 'Ring My Bell'.

One energetic lady shouted "a shower time again!" as she per-formed a complicated dance move with her partner. Renaissance Disco seemed to be hitting the right notes as they drew from their arsenal of Beres Hammond songs while the couples held hands and swayed to the music.

They soon changed the vibe with Junior Reid's One Blood, before John Holt brought the energy and Buju sang about his 'Browning'. The men and women got into wining position for 'Puy'.

Shelter

As another bout of rain began again, some patrons found shelter while others took the opportunity to hold their partners a little closer and rock to the music. The selectors welcomed the 'blessing' with Half Pint's Greetings as Pretty Boy Floyd teased about the 'wickedest times when rain start fall.'

Renaissance ended their set with a crowd moving dub from 'Edward Seaga' to Buju's Boom Bye Bye and got forwards as they flawlessly kicked into new dancehall with Dr Evil's Stay Far From We and Wayne Marshall's Forgot Dem.

The Captain Colin Hinds kept the energy going with a few disco hits, bigging up the independent ladies in the crowd before hitting I Will Survive. The dancing frenzy began with the old school moves which had the crowd 'jumping and spreading out', as a small group of patrons at the front of the selectors' booth jumped to Revival for the continuing showers.

At 1:30 a.m. the party was thrown back to the 80s as the crowd got funky to Michael Jackson and then to Madonna's Like A Virgin and Jimmy Cliff's Reggae Night. Mix Master Marvin soon took over with soca, drawing for the Dollar Wine, and told the crowd to 'follow di leader', as the crowd formed a conga line to Footsteps. He also played some fairly recent soca hits from Machel Montano and Allison Hinds before switching to disco again.

Soaking wet

The continuing bursts of rain seemed to energise the crowd as while some patrons huddled under umbrellas, the majority got soaking wet dancing and obviously enjoying themselves. By 3 a.m. it was the real dancehall time with hits from Beenie Man, Spragga Benz, Bounty Killer and a slew of hits from Lady Saw.

After 3 a.m. as the rain really began to pour hard, little groups of persons began to file out of the venue soaked to the bone, while others continued to enjoy the vibes inside the venue till much later in the night.

These women enjoyed themselves at the Mello Vibes party.