I recently came across a comment on a fellow bloggers page saying something to the extent that if a popular band wasn’t crossing the Savannah stage this year she was moving on cause the Socadrome was a waste of time.

COME AGAIN?!?!

I feel so strongly about this topic I have to write something with my (opposing) point of view.

For years, my experience of the extacy that is carnival has always been punctuated by the LIVING HELL that is the wait for the stage.

The fact is that all the bands have to pass through this bottleneck, one section at a time.  It simply MUST take time and with one stage there is no way to avoid this.

The wait to cross the savannah is LONG.  The sun seems to burn extra as you stand.  The crowd is thick and compressed so NO breeze will reach you.  You WILL hear the same song for 2 hours as they band tries hopelessly to hype up the upcoming stage.

To make the situation worse, the powers that be have ordained that the drinks truck must travel around the stage, so you have to endure the torture of the stage without the option of being able to drown your sorrows in rum.  Not even a drop of water to pour on your sunburned scalp. After the first 10 minutes you don’t even want a wine anymore….you just want escape!

To top it off…I think they have ebola virus there….and they smother kittens.

THE SOCADROME

If the savannah is living hell, the Socadrome was like a gift from heaven.

First of all it was something new and innovative.  That alone gets a plus in my books.  The bands saw a way to give patrons a “stage” to cross without having to wait for a venue that EVERY band in Trinidad is trying to cross.  The lineup to cross is basically in the parking lot of the Jean Peirre Complex and there was always ample space to move around.  The space allowed the cool tropical breeze to flow between the revellers like the breath of angels.

The wait to cross was much shorter.  The whole of tribe crossed over in probably an hour or less.  The drinks trucks didn’t have to leave the band for as long and the reduced heat and cooling breeze meant that I didn’t die from heatstroke.

Now this year the grandstands were empty, but the savannah grandstands are usually next to empty at the time of day Tribe crossed anyway so I don’t see this as a disadvantage.

The real issue for me was that after the Socadrome was lunch.  Lunch was a 5 minute walk with no music or anything.  It almost felt like “carnival done”.  But this was a SMALL price to pay for the increased comfort of the Socadrome.

I am absolutely sure that I will get some blistering comments from this  but its  simply my opinion.

Let me know yours.

SAVANNAH VS SOCADROME?