Freddie Jackson woos at A Moment in Time

From the onset it was clear the line-up for Beres Hammond's A Moment in Time would be top secret, but no-one ever thought veteran R&B crooner Freddie Jackson would be one of the special guests.

The first hint of the New York native being on Sunday night's show at the National Stadium, came when Mr Reggae himself, Toots Hibbert, started sending shout-outs and mentioned Freddie's name. This, however, went unnoticed by the near-capacity crowd which by then had streamed into the stadium's grandstands as well as the cycle track, the running track and sections of the infield. In Moment in Time tradition, there is no host, heightening the anticipation as to who would appear next. This anticipation was relieved each time by opening bars of a popular tune and a crawl on the giant screens in the venue.
Freddie took to the stage at 11:45pm and worked every inch of the massive stage during his 30-minute set. He wooed the predominantly female audience, opening with his take of Billy Paul's Me & Mrs Jones, which featured excellent music on horns led by Dean Fraser. This paved the way for an even more entertaining set featuring tracks such as All I Ever Ask, You Are My Lady and his smash hit, Rock Me Tonight. This artiste clearly has not lost any aspect of his vocal range and talent with the passing years.

Jackson's performance was preceded by acts such as The Mighty Diamonds, Courtney John and Jimmy Cozier, but the real heavy hitters started coming with the entry of John Holt. He sent shockwaves through the crowd with his 1000 volts and reeled off his hits - Love I Can Feel, Carpenter, Stick By Me, Wear You to the Ball and Impossible - in rapid succession. There was never a dull moment in this set and with the seasoned musicians on the stand this performance was a thrill
to behold.

The pace slowed somewhat when Toots took to the stage, but he managed to redeem himself with 54-46. He made way for Barrington Levy who not only picked up the pace, but ran with it taking the stadium crowd with him. Living Dangerously, Murderer, featuring a cameo by Beenie Man, Broadway, Too Experienced and Vice Versa Love, were what the crowd demanded and got in excess. Mr Big Ship, Freddie McGregor's set was short and spicy and despite admitting to having a less-than-perfect voice, he managed to pull off a decent performance featuring Push Come to Shove, I Will Wait For You and Let Them Try.

After the intermission and a single tune Rising Stars finalist Lenya Wilks (who Beres has now taken under his wing), the screens announced the arrival of The Cool Ruler, Gregory Isaacs and his entry sent wild screams through the stadium. Another master of the stage, he brought the crowd to their feet and had them dancing to Tune In, All I have, Number one, Rumours and Hard Drugs.

Reggae Queen Marcia Griffiths lit up the stage in her metallic outfit and was engaging from the opening note. She performed one of her latest track, Everyone's Got a Story on the Drop It riddim followed by Dreamland, I Shall Sing and closed with her perennial hit Electric Boogie, at which time she invited members of the audience including Beenie Man and Etana to perform the Electric Slide.

Freddie Jackson made way for Beres at 12:15 am. The ladies went wild as he rolled out hit after hit and the ladies so loved his smoky vocals tinged with a hint of gravel. The much-loved tracks including, One Dance, She Loves Me Now, Step Aside Now, Tempted to Touch and Putting up Resistance were all available for the taking. He closed his set and this year's event by bringing back all the performers to the stage and with support from the Nexus Ensemble brought an enjoyable evening to a close. This was not one of Beres' better performances, but considering the quality of the line-up his job was pretty much to seal the deal and wind down the evening.

A Moment in Time gets full points for production value. The venue, staging, sound and lighting were absolutely first class. The calibre of artistes and the air of anticipation, not knowing who was next were strong points which added to the surprise element of this show. With other major shows to come this season, Beres and his team should take a bow for their efforts, and are clearly the front-runners for event of the year.