Machel Montano Back in Brooklyn at Floyd Bennett Field | 2011
On July 3, 2011, Machel Montano brought the HD Family to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York, for a major outdoor Soca concert during the July 4th holiday weekend.
The sold-out event came during one of Machel’s biggest seasons. Only months earlier, he had returned to Trinidad Carnival competition and won both the International Power Soca Monarch title and the 2011 Road March with “Advantage.”
By the time Machel took the stage around 9 PM, thousands of fans had gathered at Floyd Bennett Field for a night that would run for more than two hours.
Julianspromos documented the performance, preserving footage from the Brooklyn concert.
Machel’s Big 2011 Season
The Brooklyn concert came at a high point in Machel’s 2011 comeback.
After being away from the major Trinidad Carnival stages in 2010, he returned in 2011 with new music and the HD Family behind him.
“Advantage” became the defining song of the season, winning the Power Soca Monarch competition and then dominating the road to capture Road March.
By July, New York fans were getting Machel while that momentum was still fresh.
The HD Family Comes to Brooklyn
Machel was joined at Floyd Bennett Field by several familiar voices from the HD era.
Patrice Roberts, Farmer Nappy and Zan were part of the lineup, while Benjai and Kerwin Du Bois also performed during the night.
It gave the Brooklyn audience much more than a single headline performance. The show moved between Machel’s catalog and appearances from artists who were responsible for some of the biggest Soca records of the period.
For fans of 2011 Soca, it was a strong lineup in one place.
More Than Two Hours of Machel
Machel took the stage at approximately 9 PM and performed for roughly two hours.
The set included music from his 2011 season along with songs from earlier periods of his career, giving the crowd a mix of current Carnival hits and longtime favorites.
With the HD band and guest artists rotating through the performance, the show carried the feel of the large Machel concerts that had become known for bringing several artists together rather than keeping the focus on one performer all night.
A Reggae Tribute in the Middle of the Show
Soca was the main attraction, but Machel also changed the pace during the performance.
He paid tribute to Buju Banton, with whom he had previously collaborated on “Make Love,” and performed several Bob Marley songs before returning to Soca.
The reggae segment gave the crowd something different in the middle of an otherwise Soca-heavy night before the tempo picked back up.
The Night Runs a Little Longer
The concert had been scheduled to end at 11 PM, but the crowd received a little extra time.
Contemporary coverage reported that the NYPD allowed the event to continue for approximately another 30 minutes, extending the music until around 11:30 PM.
After hours of performances at Floyd Bennett Field, the extra half-hour gave Brooklyn one last stretch of music before the night came to an end.
