Well folks, those pics only gives us part of the story of how well the Warrior nation Nite went. Our friend Otis (soon to become a Warrior Nation member, he’s in glasses on left in this picture) who runs the TrinisInLondon.com website was busy most of the night chatting up gyal so was unable to capture every aspect of the night. We also await some pics from FLi who was there and snapping away so hopefully he was able to capture other aspects of the night. Jay(the mechanic) was also in attendance and was most helpful to me in collecting some new flyers that I was unable to collect before the event due to time constraints so many thanks to him as we were able to pass the new flyer round before the event was over.
For those who asked, the venue where the event took place is called the Base Bar, 33 Camberwell Road SE5 (in South-East London) and has a capacity of 150. As folks hear we go be on ITV and it was the start of the Easter bank holiday weekend (most didn't have to work the next day) well is like they now had excuse to party and come out to gallery deyself, if yuh see dem!
This Represent/Warrior Nation Nite was advertised to be on from 8pm till 2am but we ended-up going till bout 3:30am as the place was still packed till that time and folks didn’t seem to want to go home. I myself arrived just before 8pm and folks dressed up in their T&T colours and waving their flags were already inside, nice one... that's exactly what we wanted most of them doing so that the night will look good on TV once the Steadfast TV(ITV) cameras start rolling. I quickly got the soca music flowing and before I could turn around the Steadfast TV camera crew arrived and were setting up. Luckily I got the big Warrior Nation Banner up on the wall from the night before and the venue was all set for the cameras! The Steadfast TV camera crew’s aim was to capture the night as it developed and they asked me if I could give them an intro-interview of how the night is set to proceed and I happily obliged saying words to the effect:-
"This is a night featuring the fans of the T&T Soca Warriors aka the Warrior Nation and will give ITV viewers a taster of how passionate we T&T supporters are about our team and how we plan to support them in Germany and to party and create a carnival like atmosphere in and outside the football stadiums at our three 1st Round matches whether we win, lose or draw. (Truetrini this is where I was hoping you coulda help out as you could real talk for camera!)
The night will also feature live soca artists who have recently penned and recorded songs in tribute to our team the Soca Warriors and we should also have some Carnival dancers performing and at least one player from our World Cup bound Soca Warriors football team expected to pass thru.
Ladies dress in Red/T&T colours who arrive before 10pm get Free wine and we should be giving away a Warrior Nation kit to one of our lucky supporters/feters who will get free member to the Warrior Nation which will normally cost them £15.It should be an action packed night!"
Well folks so said and so done and the ITV crew were telling me before the end of the night that they were very impressed with how it all went based on what I had promised them:-
Their cameras captured the early birds dressed in Red arriving before 11pm and getting their FREE wine and immediately getting in the wine-ing mood! By 10:30pm the venue was already getting packed with Trinbagonians mostly clad in Red/T&T colours and even folks from the other islands and countries were clad in Red too to show their support!
Carnival and football DVDs were on show on the Big screen until 11pm keeping the early arrivals entertained apart from the infectious soca music.
The Carib in the bar was flowing and the Poison Carnival dancers had arrived by 10:30pm and ready to strut their stuff for the cameras. The billed Soca artists Fakekou, Level Crew, Silvah and Soca Banton were all in the house by 11pm and ready to perform too to show their support for the Soca Warriors. The icing on the cake was the arrival of Soca Warrior right-winger Carlos Edwards around 11:15pm so you done know it was show time!
The Poison Carnival dancers were scheduled for some other gigs that evening and so asked to perform first which they did after we (the DJ’s) got the crowd jumping and waving for the cameras to the some of the latest 2006 soca tunes including the popular Soca Warrior anthems by Bunji & Maximus Dan “Warrior Anthem” & “Fighter”, respectively. I mainly took a backseat from the DJ decks and let my DJ team (DJ Bliss and DJ Apache) do most of the playing while I helped to coordinated the night so that everything ran as smoothly as possible. Most of the night my mobile phone was going with folks asking for directions on their way to the venue and asking if they can still get in and if the show for the cameras has already started. Once the show got going my input was mainly as MC to introduce the acts to the audience and camera crew. Another camera crew from Ben TV arrived just before the performances started and the night was bubbling with excitement. By 12:30pm we had to start refusing folks entry as the venue was packed to the limit…. Those who were late had to lime outside and wait for folks to leave to be allowed in which most of them did as the weather was warm on the outside.
The Poison girls dressed in bikini costumes strutted their stuff and I give them and Poison a big-up for the cameras much to the delight of their manager. Just before they ended their performance I asked Carlos Edwards to step forward into the dance-floor area (near the DJ box and asked the Poison girls to do a dance round him for the cameras. They obliged and Carlos was feeling like a King, if yuh see d smile on his face!
Next up were the live soca artists:-
First up to perform was Level Crew who put on an energetic performance for the audience and cameras with their new Soca Warrior song. They were jointly introduced by myself and their manager Coco Payol who is a popular UK based Trini-storyteller in the mould of Paul Keens-Douglas. He regularly MCs at the London calypso tent every summer and I previously did that MCing job before Coco took over.
Next up we had Silvah along side Soca Banton (the UK Soca Monarch for 2005) also performing their Soca Warrior tune which also went down well with the crowd to lound cheers. Finally we had artist Fakekou (a nephew of the Baron) who performed his new rapso song “Kick De Ball” and we also featured his brand new music video for the song playing on the screen in the background while he performed. In my opinion Fakekou’s song has a lot of cross-over appeal and will go down well with ITV viewers who might be into the R&B, Hip-Hop, etc as it has that sort of international vibe.
After the performances we next did our Warrior Nation Kit raffle (kit provided by FLi) and gave away a membership kit to one of the lucky ravers in the venue.
In general I was told by almost everyone that it was a great night and folks artists etc were really looking forward to seeing themselves on TV.
For the rest of the night while folks partied on I regularly announced that they can look out to the broadcast of this T&T fans i.e. Warrior Nation Nite on ITV1 on Wed.17th May’06 at midnight. I also regularly plugged the benefits of joining the Warrior Nation and keep pointed towards the big Warrior Nation banner telling folks that we’ll be jumping behind that in Germany and at all our future games if they become members.
I can tell you by the end of the night most folks who attended were anxious to become Warrior Nation members so I can say the night was definitely a success. Once this Warrior Nation Nite airs on ITV1 I just hope that FLi has enough kits to supply the UK crew who will want to join up!
That’s it, the summary of the Warrior Nation UK Fete Nite Part 1.
Next, look out for the Warrior Nation UK Sweat, FLi and the rest of the crew will keep you folks posted.
Sorry this post was so long but it could have been even longer if I tried to cover everthing that happened that night!
Socapro, happy, tired and still recovering from a great Easter/Warrior Nation weekend.
Over and out!