Blink and you would not have believed it! At midnight December 29 at The Chinese Benevolent Association, Old Hope Road. The STAR team found themselves among the 30 patrons at Appleton YUSH, a party that was about to go down as one of the scantiest events of the year.

You only had to blink to realise that what at first seemed obvious, was going to end up being very far from the truth. Yush turned out to be one of the most attended events to close 2007.

At 12:45 a.m. there was hardly any room to sashay across what had become a crowded dance floor and by 1:30 a.m. it was a genuine case of renting a tile. Step out of that tile and you would lose the place for the entire night.

Okay so there was the outside downstairs section, but as those areas were close to the bar and the jerk pans, tile for rent was just as scarce as on the inside. If you are a heavy drinker, the best thing would be to stand by the bar all night and spare yourself the difficulty of grinding your way through the crowd for another drink, the way many patrons did.

No option

There was no option really. The music and the crowd made it inevitable that you bump and grind with the music to get by or be wined on by the patrons. It was a case of 'blending in by grinding in.'

So imagine what happened when Lady Saw bellowed from the juke box, "If the man lef," rent a tile was thrown out in unison and the female audience grabbed unto their spouses in attendance and worked the butterfly down to the ground.

Those who came alone were only too glad to oblige the single men who 'begged' a dance, and the frolics carried on way into the morning as DJs Richie Ras, Marlon Campbell and Arif Cooper worked with the vibes of the audience and drew out some of the best music from the dancehall decade 1990-2000.

Simply the best

The hotties stroll in to what was a hype year end event.

By the time the headliners Doctor Dre and Delano, both Renaissance veterans, took to the mixing boards, they lit the crowd on fire. It was the first collaboration for the two and the patrons were treated to nothing short of the best.

The approximately 3000 patrons in attendance were truly satisfied with the mix of Calypso, R&B, Mo-Town, and hard-core original Reggae music, all of which kept the crowd screaming for more.

Tunes like Batty Rider, Go-Go Wine, Cocoa Cola Bottle Shape and Buju Banton's Stamina Daddy, set the mood for the party that would, by 3:30 a.m. stop traffic, cause a near stampede and reunite the pleasure of dancing with feeling safe at a public event. Security was rigid and tight.

It would take another 2 hours before the crowd started to filter away from Appleton YUSH 2007, but not before queuing up once again in the 'jerk' line.

They could not be blamed. The aroma of the food, offered as a part of the all-inclusive entrance fee, was as good as how amazing the grand event turned out to be. It was interesting to watch the crowd gyrate as they reluctantly left what YUSH organiser Quizz confirmed to be "the best one so far".

"We have outdone ourselves, and look forward to planning the next big event," she said.

Appleton YUSH ended on a very high note at approximately 5:30 a.m. Sunday, well past the legal permit, but as rules are rules, the police turned up and the only way to stop the music was for the cops to eventually escort DJ Rush, who was playing the final set, off the premises wearing cuffs and a smile. Guess it is true then, 'When the music hits you feel no pain.'