Crowds turn out for Peace Day concert (Update with photos)

Rock and reggae music blended together perfectly at the Lennon Bermuda Peace Day concert.

Hundreds of spectators filled the show ring at the Botanical Gardens last night. The bleachers and hillside were also filled with people. 

Despite several downpours, the concert still went on as people either sat in the rain wearing ponchos or ran backstage for cover. 

The event started right on time with local artists taking the stage to perform their tributes to John Lennon. 

Acts included Joy Barnum, K Gabrielle, Heather Nova, Rachel Brown, Uzi Mon, Chris Finsness and many more. 

One standout of the event was Michelle Morfitt, singing an original song called ‘Brothers’. 

MC Jimmy Keys had the audience in laughter all night long with his jokes and mini performances between acts. 

Before the reggae segment began, Keys performed a bit of British rock and put on wigs to look like the artist he was pretending to be including Ozzie Osbourne. 

The first half of the show was good, but the music was mainly mellow. The vibe turned up a few notches when Biggie Irie came to the stage with the Splash Band. 

He performed a few of his own songs and also sang ‘All My Loving’, the song Maxi Priest sang at last year’s Peace Day concert.

The crowd stood up and started dancing, obviously enjoying the music. Irie also performed ‘Woman’ and had all the beautiful ladies stand up as he sang to them. 

The Bob Marley tribute was next as Irie opened with a version of ‘Redemption Song’. 

He had the crowd singing along with him as he sang ‘Buffalo Soldier’, ‘One Love’, ‘I Shot the Sheriff’, ‘Jammin’, ‘No Woman no Cry’ and many more classic Bob songs. 

My only criticism is that the tribute was far too short. Being that it was a medley, it could have went a little bit longer and included more songs. 

The crowd seemed to be enjoying those 30 minutes more than anything else performed at the concert. 

The Fab Faux finished off the night performing songs to celebrate the Beatles.