Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

Left : The 'Outlaw' Josey Wales performs at King Stur-Gav in Concert at Mas Camp, Oxford Road, New Kingston, on Saturday. Right: Brigadier Jerry in performance. - photos by Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

There were three big sounds in the Mas Camp lawn, the distinctive red, green and gold flags extending from the 'control tower' marking King Stur-Gav. There was many a musical standout on the microphone, among them Peter Metro and Little John on Metro Media and Brigadier Jerry mainly on Jah Love, along with the night's host Josey Wales, General Trees, Beres Hammond, Bunny Wailer, Little Twitch, Echo Minott, Jimmy Riley and Richie Stephens on Stur-Gav.

But King Stur-Gav in Concert fell short of the event's title and the large audience on Saturday night, the moments of outright excitement coming in between lulls and the performances of Hammond, Wailer, Riley and Stephens, who were not advertised for the event but who paid respects to Josey Wales, more a show of good musical face than anything else.

Sound problem

Part of the problem was the sound, King Stur-Gav sounding far better than the other two sound systems, but all were, as sound systems from the rub-a-dub era tend to be, tuned to give prominence to the rolling basslines.

This sometimes came at the expense of clarity on the microphone.

In addition, many at Mas Camp were outside the arc formed by the three sound system's speakers, each outfit carrying its own equipment. There were no speakers on the stage facing the crowd, which would have gone a far way to making the music have more reach and impact.

Despite all that, though, there was outstanding deejaying and singing at King Stur-Gav in Concert, Peter Metro going on his knees as he gave an extended lyrical history of Jamaica, the rhythm finishing before the song. And the audience cheered when Metro pointed out that the difference between 'original' deejays and those now was that the former had long lyrics and not the 'computer' stuff.

The audience cheered.

When Jah Love took over heading up to 2 a.m., the Brigadier was cool and effective as he declared himself the "one general inna de dance". And the audience cheered as he chanted "from the Brigadier born, no guy neva turn me on". But his extended deejaying was cut short when he said he had been asked to hold on "until certain people come".

Entertaining

Stur-Gav took over with Josey Wales as host, his comments as he spoke with the guests after their performances often as entertaining as the performances themselves. His Love Triangle hit home as the traditional recording and then live performances on the version was followed.

General Trees and Echo Minott worked a segment in tandem, snippets of popular songs rousing the audience. Little Twitch's Spanish Fly was imbibed by the audience and a dapper Junior Cat had a turn. But when Brigadier brought in his son, British, the dance fell flat.

And although after that Briggy deejayed, Bunny Wailer did a Ram Dancehall (although by the time he reached Burial the dance was close to comatose), the howls went up for the One Dance of Beres Hammond and Jimmy Riley was recalled to do Love and Devotion, it was not nearly enough to rescue the session.

Tony Tuff was good and The Gleaner gave it up as Errol Scorcher was on, leaving many to eke out some satisfaction for their money.