( L - R ) Marley , Brown

AT THE end of Unique Vision band's support unit stint in the gardens of The Jamaica Pegasus hotel on Friday, the peak of the night's variety was compressed into about 20 minutes.

Poet Krabwalking Jamrock did the humorous The Roach Prayer to laughter from the near capacity audience as rock band Downstairs set up. Dennis Brown's Ghetto Girl got the heavy guitar treatment, some members of the audience showing their appreciation through applause. Tubeless dropped in stand-up comedy ("Ham is cured pork. A no pork again. That is new meat," he said) during another quick band change. And Rootz Underground was steady and superb as they performed a Marley trio, Trench Town Rock, Midnight Ravers and Top Ranking.

With the extensive and varied Bob Marley and Dennis Brown catalogues to draw on, it was natural that the Jamaica Association of Vintage Artistes and Affiliates (JAVAA) tribute to 'The King and the Crown Prince' would be varied. And the interpretations (or flat-put replications) of the songs by the night's many honouring voices certainly made for interesting listening.

Relatively quiet

Still, despite the mostly high quality of those voices from the stage, it took quite a while for the large audience (including a sprinkling of the Brits who were in town for the Sabina Park shellacking) to really warm to the music. So, after rejoicing in History Man's Bob Marley Story and exploding for the boy dancer who accompanied History Man's recap of Beijing, they were relatively quiet. This despite Sam Carty's excellent delivery of Brown's Got To Get Away and Charmaine Limonius' very good take on Marley's Turn Your Lights Down Low.

Roy Rayon worked very hard on his all-Marley set of Lively Up Yourself, No Woman No Cry and Get Up, Stand Up, but could not get the audience really stirred up. Winsome Benjamin's two originals were appreciated more than her take on Brown's Inseparable.

Then came Bongo Herman, demanding that all "make some noise" and stand in honour of Marley, Brown and Obama, which most did. It was ironic that the mood of the concert changed as Herman was certainly not one of the night's better singers. However, there was jubilation as he rasped his way through Rastaman Chant and Silhouette, putting Ellis into the tribute mix with the encouragement to "come do the rocksteady".

Back to a chill

Herman tugged his jacket off and dipped into his bag of percussive tricks on Drifter, the crowd shouting 'gwaan!' as instructed as he demonstrated each.

But, in-between Herman and the varied end to the concert's first segment, a substandard version of The Heptones took the mood back to a chill.

Seven-year-old Jahzan was a pint-sized delight, stepping to and fro on the stage in knee-high black boots as she asked "stop killing the children". Junior Sinclair exchanged MC duties for singing with Iron Lion Zion and Dwight Pinkney plucked at the emotions as he delivered Nice Time, Put It On, Simmer Down ('legs dropping' and all) and How Could I Live on guitar in a good set.

The big names were generally saved for the second segment of the concert, but a relatively unknown Lyford McIntosh was not a misfit with good deliveries of Brown's Sitting and Watching and Have You Ever Been In Love and Who The Cap Fits, the last especially well received.

Bunny and Scully also honoured Ellis, doing Muriel. With time running out, the tribute surged towards the close. The crowd demanded more of George Nooks after his pair of D Brown's and standing spontaneously for God Is Standing By. Pablo Moses did an extended version of Dubbing Is a Must, Tinga Stewart's version of Soul Rebel was good and Ernie Smith put his twist on Redemption Song before delivering his own Tears on My Pillow.

A good night

Nadine Sutherland gave a melodic history lesson, going back to her first record Starvation on the Land, produced by Bob Marley, before 'gully creeping' in the dancehall of Action. Gregory Isaacs took the house down with Night Nurse and a brief encore had to be allowed, there were groans when it was announced that John Holt would not be performing, Sugar Minott insisted on doing Mr DC and Frankie Paul closed off a good night with his take on Marley's One Drop.

MCs for the night included Junior Sinclair, Patrick Lafayette and Tommy Cowan.