Sahara...Aftermath of the Launch

If Island People's launch is any indication of what to expect from them when it comes to organistation, delivery and service they need to get their act together as soon as possible. Now I know that the rain delayed everything as when we got to the venue the skies opened and poured rain on the desert, but it did not last too long and we had great weather for the rest of the night.

After sampling some drinks, having some corn soup and making a trek to the ladies toilets to check on my hair (there were NO Mirrors at the ladies toilets!And they needed much more than the handful of toilets provided) the crowd was summoned stage side for the presentation of Sahara.

Well that turned into a two hour wait as we stood in one spot staring at the curtains on stage that someone kept fiddling with the entire time. Music was playing of course, so at first we were all enjoying the vibe, I was chatting with the press photographers who were also upfront and we were expecting the presentation to begin soon.

Soon enough the crowd started to get frustrated I mean how long can you stare at the stage, watching the "Sahara" crew fiddle with the curtains, pass around drinks to their friends on stage and basically ignore the crowd while they limed and danced behind the curtains (yeah they were sheer so we were seeing them!)One of the photographers was annoyed and contrasted the long wait to TRIBE's launch, saying they had everything organised with a media launch first, then the band performed and the models came out last in costumes, though a long presentation there was no waiting like what we had with Sahara.

Eventually the show started after approximately two hours of waiting and we still had to endure another fifteen minutes of a short story/production to introduce the presentation. The story went something like there was a king looking for relief from his boredom, had several performers trying to entertain him (including a ballet dancer) and eventually led to him looking to the Sahara for adventure......sorry, they lost me to the end!

So the Arabian music started, girls arose out of huge wicker baskets on the stage in recycled Sonia Mack costumes, which looked good by the way, but what was with the one dancing girl in a TRIBE Anemone costume?

And, after a LONG wait they finally started showing costumes. That part of the show was excellent. We had running commentary from a group of male divas who were shouting "Show TRIBE how to make costumes" of course they were saying awful things about the costumes they did not like, but it was all in good fun. After all the models came back on stage for the finale my husband kept saying Rihanna was going to come out now since they were making a path on stage and waiting for something...or someone. There was no Rihanna (why was the launch pushed back from the scheduled date of the 17th of August again?)but Machel came out riding some sort of ATV and was great as usual.

At the end of it all I could see where Island People tried, I mean they gave a good effort but the attention to the details were left lacking in my opinion. For an outfit that has had legendary parties and events in the past they did not come up to scratch. Waiting for the show to start it seemed to me that they were not organised at all ,inspite of the rain there should not have been a two hour delay in the presentation if plans were put in place properly from beforehand. The crew members on Sahara seem to be there for a lime, it was not professional to see them drinking and dancing on stage while we all waited without any explanation as to why we were left waiting for SO long (a little PR would have done well at that time). And there were lots of bars all over the venue (which was announced way too many times)but not enough toilets were provided for the ladies.

Compared to TRIBE they did nothing "extra" for the patron who shelled out $175.00 to go to the launch. At least at TRIBE we got a complimentary drink, their sponsors were at the launch giving away products, the ladies toilets had full length mirrors and doubles was on sale for $1.00 each(the doubles were $2.50 at Sahara, $12.00 for a corn soup!). Also, TRIBE was giving away the costume booklet before the presentation and you could have as many as you wanted, Island People were pretty stingy with their calenders, we only got one each upon leaving the venue.

These may seem like minor issues but to me it left a bigger impression in that it takes more than a pretty costume to make a band. What is the sense in having gorgeous costumes when the everything else is disorganised and you can't put out a little extra for your potential customers? The follow through is extremely important to me when I am paying through the nose for a costume, it becomes MORE than just the costume it is the whole experience. And it costs nothing as I see it to treat the customer as someone very important since at the end of the day, the masquerader is the one contributing to the millions that these band leaders take home at the end of Carnival.