Andre Jebbinson, Staff Reporter

( L - R ) Moses and Katalys Krew - File photos

To leave or not to leave? That seemed to have been the question of the night for disgruntled patrons at 'Hang On To Jesus', a gospel concert held in Portmore on Saturday.

Before the concert started, patrons showed disgust at the fact that nobody could give a starting time. The tickets and advertisements read 'Gates open at 5:00 p.m.', but when asked, the doorman said they would begin at 7 p.m.

However, at 8:30 p.m., there was still no music coming from the stage. This was met with complaints from some peeved patrons who had already been there for more than three hours.

Finally, an unapologetic MC announced they would begin in 15 minutes; much to the dismay of those who thought it was time to get their praise on.

The first set of artistes were not popular ones and barely had the audience moving until George Gordon, a former Jamaica Cultural Development Commission gospel song winner, emerged and serenaded the audience. They seemed pleased, as this was the first time they were on their feet.

Good old country days

The clapping, dancing and jumping became even more active when Joan Flemming took to the stage. The artiste has not been as popular as she used to be, but she took the audience back to the good old country days with songs such as Blessed Holy Ghost I Welcome You and All Christian People. Her performance was over, but the audience, however, was not quite through with her. She then had to come back and bless them some more.

The concert had got to a point where it seemed the performances kept getting better and Katalyst kept the fire going. It would be safe to say the audience was channelled into a happy jubilee. Katalyst performed Can't Take My Lord to open with and ended with Fadda, a mock version of Buju Banton's, Driver.

Moses seemed to be the artiste most people wanted to see and the moment he entered, he started to deliver. Moses' life story is one of inspiration that can touch even the vilest of persons. For this reason, he has become a symbol of what God can do. With hits like When Di Tunda Roll and Jesus Story, there was no controlling the patrons.

Sherwin Gordon ended the show with a good performance. Other artistes in the line-up were Tin-I-Cool, Anointed Ones, Kingdom Soldiers and Harbour View Youth Choir.