Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

Alton Ellis - File

All-star musical events have a way of turning out to be far less than the sum of their sparkling individual parts, as somehow, the lustre of good songs and strong performances gets lost in logistics and egos.

That was not so at the 'Get Ready to Rocksteady' concert, held at the National Indoor Sports Centre on Wednesday night.

That was, no doubt, helped by the fact that it was being staged specifically for recording for a documentary, and hence had to be a tight production in the first place.

There were no 'warm-up' acts, and Judy Mowatt, Dawn Penn, The Tamlins, Derrick Morgan, Ken Boothe, Leroy Sibbles and a jubilant Alton Ellis did only parts of their extensive catalogues, getting to the hit point immediately.

Excellent, despite glitches

Not that the concert did not have its shortcomings, as handclaps for 'showtime' sounded 45 minutes after the slated 8:00 p.m. start. And when Leroy Sibbles sang To The Top the first time around, there was a quick restart to cover up the fact that it was the wrong song for the music.

But those glitches paled to the excellent music of a large all-star band led by guitarist Ernie Ranglin and included Hux Brown (guitar), Sly Dunbar (drums), Robbie Lyn (keyboards), Bongo Herman and Scully (percussions) and a horn section comprising Calvin Cameron, Glen DaCosta, Deadley Headley Bennett and David Madden, with Lloyd Parkes on bass and also leading his own We The People aggregation in supporting Alton Ellis.

And it was Alton Ellis, performing in Jamaica for the first time since being released from hospital, for whom the audience reserved its most enthusiastic response, after the Silent River of Mowatt, Penn's golden hemline flouncing as she kicked up heels on No No No, the Tamlins' harmonious Baltimore, Morgan's deep "court adjourned", Boothe's fantastic foot movement to Puppet On A String and Sibbles honouring of Fatty Fatty.

Signature invitation

He started with the signature invitation to "get ready, come rocksteady", duly shaking his shoulders and rocking his bodyline, despite his encounter with cancer. And he gave testimony that God is real, relating that in the hospital in London, there was a man beside him crying for pain for four days. Two minutes after Ellis sent up a prayer for him, he said, the pain ceased and he was released from hospital the following day.

It seemed that Ellis, who had the most extensive performance time, did not want to be released from the stage, the audience cheering and dancing as he went through More Reasons Than One, Girl I've Got a Date and Breaking Up Is Hard To Do. He left the stage after Lord Deliver Us and was asked to return, dropping legs to Dancecrasher and asking for 'one more' a couple times. The last 'one more' was Willow Tree, even as the all-star band came up to replace Lloyd Parkes and We The People.

Sibbles led all the performers in a letdown of a group climax, recording purposes seeming to take precedence over hit song power in the invitation "people get ready, for the dance is rocksteady", as the exodus began close to midnight. Many stopped, though, for the closing Rivers of Babylon, Derrick Morgan the last off stage, as he sang another "let the words of my mouth ..." to close a good event.