Probably my favorite performance of the night was The Silver Stars - "Respectfully Yours". The arrangement was just pure hype throughout, the ending specifically
And the players are clearly having a great time - reminded me of how fun it was to play in a steelband back in college!
They also had this funny little skit at the beginning where the bandleader almost gets whisked away by a beautiful woman and the band has to reel him back to start the song
... but THE LIZARD was a fantastic performance overall and ALSO had a wacky theme that they ran with:
Renegades - "The Lizard"
https://youtu.be/SfIzJVvU0zI?t=97
This performance didn't place well in the final rankings, but for the ridiculous Train-theme, you've got to see it:
Starlift - "Last Train"
https://youtu.be/2SuU96MhvBE?t=62
It's a neat visual effect they have going, where there aren't covered stages in the middle so you can see the massive amount of players present on stage
16 years ago, I saw Exodus practicing for their 2010 Panorama performance while in Trinidad and I had the same thought of "what a massive amount of steel and players"
And the winner is... Exodus! That's two Panorama wins in a row!
I was getting ready for bed, so admittedly I didn't pay as much attention to this one as I should have, but here's the performance:
Going to go to bed soon but I think any one of these three bands are in contention for first place
We’ll see how this prediction PANS out 🤪
Desperadoes up now, and there are two singers to start things
I think this is just considered part of the intro skit, because I don’t singing is allowed as part of the performance…
But the previous band had train horns going off so hey
I was wondering where the name “Katzenjammers Steel Orchestra” comes from so I looked it up and found this on Merriam Webster:
“Have you ever heard a cat wailing and felt that you could relate? Apparently some hungover German speakers once did.”
The screen wipe effects going on here are out of control
Tropical Angel Harps on now
They started with a fake train station announcement- “Last train for Port-of-Spain” and incorporated a train whistle into the start of the song
So that’s cool! But no big decorations or props
Scott Wade