‘Bring Back The Love’ was a night of pure joy for Toronto’s reggae lovers, who were blessed with vintage niceness when Marcia Griffiths, Gregory Isaacs and Barrington Levy shared the stage recently. The Sound Academy on Polson Street carried a huge crowd of about 2,400 who came also to celebrate the earthstrong of reggae queen, Marcia Griffiths.
No-one was disappointed that evening as the venue bubbled with interactive energy with patrons and artists feeding off each others’ excitement. Generating thunderous applauses, the three icons, who have always been prominent as some of Jamaica’s most prolific cultural exports, represented their genre well.
Tributes flowed freely and emotions ran high, as the pleasure of ringing in another year on earth for one-third of the I Threes, coincided with musicians and crowds also honoring the late great former Torontonian, Alton Ellis.
"I like to be home for my Birthday with my family. Toronto is the only place that can get me to perform on my special day,” a classically clad Griffiths said to her ecstatic fans following her performance that had them rocking, rolling and virtually roaring. Augmenting her beauty with a gorgeous white gown, embroidered in black, the earthday girl rolled through hit after hit; and the crowd became a united chorus. Choreographing the famous moves to go with “The Electric Slide”, Griffiths had everyone including top promoter Copeland Forbes doing the dance in unison.
Mr. Smooth Cool Gregory Isaacs delighted patrons with round two of reggae thrills for that night. Hundreds of couples clutched each other as they grooved to the sounds of tunes like, “Night Nurse” and “My Number One.” No stranger to Toronto and always a crowd pleaser, Gregory certainly he celebration in the place.
Barrington Levy came out saying, “I’m in the building” and the crowd went completely beserk. Definitely the man of the moment, Levy continued the hard hitting vibe singing crowd favorites like, “Prison Oval Rock,” “Living Dangerously” and “Too Experienced.”
California based Detour Band backed Levy and he gave a tight set that was plain excellent. Not used to seeing Levy too often, Toronto fans went on and on screaming for several encores.
The event was sponsored by Heineken, Sandals, Spice Is Right, Tre-Jah-Isle Records and Tapes, Ticketmater, Nicey's, Jamaica House, Broadway Fashions, 2-Lined Music Hut, Planet Rock Entertainment and Kaya Entertainment. This group is also planning an unforgettable Valentine's Day show.
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