Sadeke Brooks, Gleaner Writer

Two patrons dance at Yesterday, held at The Gardens, Hope Road, on Saturday. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

There was free Heineken and good '90s music, but Yesterday at The Gardens, Hope Road, St Andrew, on Saturday night, lacked the energy and vibe that were expected from a long-running party of this nature.

When The Gleaner arrived at 11 p.m., there was hardly any action, but there was optimism as it was still early.

While the patrons strolled in, Renaissance was on the turntables playing some hot R&B joints as well as some disco remixes which the crowd sang along to. Songs like Ricky Martin's Cup Of Life, Spice Up Your Life by the Spice Girls and Toni Braxton's Unbreak My Heart were nicely dropped into their set.

Reminiscing

DJ Rush of Code Red took over at precisely midnight. He played well-known songs like Tevin Campbell's Can We Talk that had some men reminiscing about their high school years and trying to court girls. Men and women started dancing together when he played Shabba Ranks' Mr Lover Man and Sisqo's Unleash the Dragon and Thong Song. The expected level of dancing was not seen when Rush played Ghetto Slam and Nuff Gal by Beenie Man, Lady Saw's Sycamore Tree and Tanya Stephens' Nuh Ready Fi Dis Yet.

The mood switched a bit when he started to play a barrage of gun tunes that had the men jumping and putting up their trigger fingers. Rush referred to that segment as the Beenie versus Alliance segment at which point he instructed the crowd to pick their side. At this point songs like Bounty Killer's Riding West and Magnum were selected as well as Beenie Man's Memories.

Hip hop was the order of the night when Mix Master Marvin took over. Busta Rhymes' Party With Me was nicely remixed with Spragga Benz's No Way which provided a momentary high in the party. DMX's Lose My Mind was well received and so too were Bubba Sparks' Ugly, R Kelly's Fiesta and Missy Elliot's Get Your Freak On.

Some of the biggest forwards for the night came from Sizzla's Black Woman and Child. When Shabba told the patron what he loved badly, they really danced, but when Boom Bye Bye was played, the crowd was in frenzy.

Raunchy tunes

There had been an extensive play of gun tunes, but little time was allocated for the girls to 'bruck out' and 'buss a wine' on the dance floor. The real girls' segment lasted about seven minutes. By the time Lady Saw told men how to Stab Up Di Meat and explained to the ladies how to Fling It Up and Back Shot, the segment was done.

When Beres Hammonds' Double Trouble and Wayne Wonder's Saddest Day Of My Life were played, the people only laughed and talked while a few persons took the opportunity to 'rent-a-tile' and dance in 'rub-a-dub' style. When people were leaving at 3:30 a.m. Dollar Wine and Footsteps were being played.

Based on the set-up, it was evident that the promoters tried to make it the ultimate party experiences, but the crowd merely sang along to the songs and rocked a little. Maybe the limitations were in the mixing, the cold weather or the venue itself that made the party fall short in some sections.

Some patrons could be heard complaining that they did not like the venue as it was large and all areas were open, thereby making it difficult to judge the turnout. This might not be enough to judge Yesterday as there will be many more by year end that should live up to expectations.