Red Rat & T.O.K. Opening Night of the Blaze It Up European Tour
Feb. 27th Cologne Germany

Cologne, Germany is known for its annual Carnival where thousands of Germans and Europeans travel to Koln to dress up, parade the streets and drink lots and lots and lots of Bier. Its not a West Indian carnival with soca and half naked people, first of all its too cold to be naked and the costumes resemble Halloween more than it does Bacchanal.

Red Rat and T.O.K. opened their 2003 European Tour to a capacity crowd in Koln on carnival night at the Essigfabrik. The night also featured juggling by Kingstone Sound headed by the shows promoter Radney and by Supersonic Sound, both European Soundbwoys with authentic Raggamuffin yard vibes.

For those who don’t know dancehall is huge in Germany and the massive is completely up-to-date, the crowd sings along with every lyric coming from the speaker box. When the 303 band took to the stage the crowd was eager to see the artists as they had been celebrating the carnival in a state of drunkenness since the night before.

Red Rat took to the stage with an energetic entrance that had all the hands up, apparently the blow torch phenomenon has caught on in Germany also as flames went up blazing four feet high or more into the air. Rat has been building a large and loyal fan base in Europe and Germany in particular (this is his fourth tour here) and the members of the audience were singing along with every lyric from not just his popular hit’s such as Shelly-Ann and Dwayne but with some his songs that were not even released as singles. He also introduced fans to his new single “Blaze the Weed.” Encore after encore followed and the artist obliged until he couldn’t go any further.

Next came Jamaica’s premier dancehall group T.O.K. when I say “T” you say “OK.” Who took the stage by storm with hit after hit showcasing their unique combination of choreographed moves, dancehall harmonies and catalog of hits. After seeing the group perform in various locations around the World I realized last night the secret behind the groups success; they are four performers each with a distinctive style, voice and stage presence, as a group they achieved a perfect synthesis of their combined talents. Red Rat joined the group during “Chi Chi Man” however the audience was not prepared for what came next. T.O.K. called Shaggy to join them on stage. It was so unexpected and unbelievable the audience was in shock as Mr. Boombastic took the stage for an impromptu performance of his new single “Hey Sexy Lady” and “It wasn’t me.” The fans left the venue in the morning satisfied that they had gotten way more than their Euros worth. Wicked job by Kingstone Sound.
Related Links
* shaggyonline.com
* tokworld.com
* redrat.com
* kingstone.de