Pan On De Avenue 2018

This was the last street pan for the year, so the announcer at the judging point at Adam Smith Square kept reminding us.  The event was billed to start at 7pm but everyone knows that the big bands don’t come out until real late.  Many of them have their pan yards close by so they just roll out when they feel like it.  The bands from out of town, however, have to organise themselves with transport for the pans, etc., so they are on time.

We arrived at about 9pm as Havard Harps were performing in front of the judges.  There were vendors offering street food on every corner and bars along the avenue were enjoying a brisk trade.  Several people had set up chairs and coolers along the road edge.  We headed west up Ariapita Avenue to check out the bands lining up for the ‘stage’, buying cold beers to sustain us along the way. 

As expected, all the bands at this point were small and I was particularly impressed with the sweet, clear tones of Pan Elders, a champion south band.

Of course, this being Trinidad, people we knew greeted us and it was a chance for some ole talk and general liming.  Finally, the first big band of the night presented itself as two big trucks side by side. This was Invaders looking spectacular in their new sponsored colours.  They sounded good too.  We also jumped up with Skiffle, Renegades (2018 Panorama champs) and Starlift.

This is Trini fun at its best!  Here we were, in the cool of the night, under a full moon, chipping down the road to wonderful pan music, happy people all around, but no crush, no sweat, no big expense!  To me, this is better than Carnival.  There were even a few Moko Jumbies doing their amazing stilt dancing.

As no more big bands appeared to be on their way, we headed back to Adam Smith Square to enjoy the same bands slowly crossing the stage.  Finally, the last few big bands – Silver Stars, Trinidad All Stars, Desperados, and at the end, Phase II, performed their three pieces for the judges.  Of course perennial favourites, All Stars, drove the crowd wild with their signature rendition of “Woman on The Bass”.

I was astounded at how teeming the place was at 2am, and it was mostly a ‘mature’ crowd too.  It was time to head home, tired but satisfied, after a wonderful evening of first-class entertainment.  This place nice too bad!