Thousands of music fans gathered on the Festival Green at Camana Bay on Saturday, 16 July, for the 2022 Capella Music Festival.
The all-day event featured an impressive lineup of local and international talent. Bands such as The Neverines and Sugardaddi, along with a host of DJs, kept the party going in the Supernova Sound Tent, while award-winning artists Maxi Priest, Wyclef Jean, Charli XCX, Michael Bolton and Beres Hammond rocked the main stage.
Performances began at noon and continued all the way through to midnight, with Maxi Priest grabbing the microphone around 5:30pm – the first of the headline acts on the schedule. The crowds happily sang along to his hit songs, raising mobile phones in the air to capture video of the show.
It was Wyclef Jean, however, who really got the audience going with his energetic, interactive set, even playing the guitar with his mouth at one point.
“[It was an] amazing performance,” said Janine Nyyssonen. “My favorite moment was him leaving the stage and singing from the crowd… ”
Next up was Charli XCX, the English singer/songwriter known for hits such as ‘I Love It’ and ‘Boom Clap’, who was accompanied by professional dancers for her numbers, adding to her “great stage presence”, according to concertgoer Rachael Ann Harris.
Multi-platinum album artist Michael Bolton brought his unmistakably powerful vocals to the proceedings, much to the delight of his fans – particularly female members of the audience – albeit a bit later than originally scheduled, which meant that final act Beres Hammond didn’t start until gone 11:30pm.
“Michael Bolton was as elegant as ever with taking the old-fashioned traditional bow at the end of his set with his band,” said Harris, with Jonathan Kern saying that Bolton and Wyclef Jean “were brilliant, a real treat”.
Despite the fact that Hammond went on nearly an hour later than his 10:45pm time slot, he certainly felt the love from the crowd, many of whom had eagerly anticipated the arrival of the Jamaican reggae icon.
Hammond closed the show to much applause, just after midnight.
The international singers were not the only ones who had access to the main stage. The likes of local artists Rico Rolando, Sheena Lee and Erica Assai got their moment to shine, with DJs such as Super C and Selecta Renegade keeping the energy up between the acts.
Based on the responses from those who attended, it seems that the return of Capella (the last one was in December 2017) was a great success. Some complained about the long wait to buy food and drink tickets, and others felt that the rule regarding no re-entry being allowed needed to be revisited in the future, but overall the feeling was that it was wonderful to have events like this happening once again.
“People want that sense of normalcy,” said Darren Trickett, who added that the public was craving this kind of entertainment after the COVID drought.
“It was a fantastic event! Kudos to the organisers!” said attendee Dena Thompson. “Performers were all great and each balanced out the other.”
“Hope to see it happen on a yearly basis,” Andrea Jackson said, also commending the service in the VIP areas.
“The lineup was smooth and a lot of hard work went into this day,” said Markus Mueri. “All in all, brilliant. Putting on an outdoor event in July is hard and comes with many risks; [the organisers] pulled it off.
“Thanks, can’t wait for next year!”
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