Click to view full size

Wes­ley Gib­bings

When sev­en-time win­ners Phase II Pan Groove strikes the first notes at this evening’s Panora­ma Large Con­ven­tion­al Bands Fi­nal at the Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah, it will mark the home­stretch of one of the com­pe­ti­tion’s keen­est en­coun­ters in many years.

So far, there have on­ly been mar­gin­al gaps to sep­a­rate a tight­ly packed clus­ter of bands, with win­ning records, at the top. This in­cludes this year’s im­mov­able fron­trun­ners Re­pub­lic Bank Ex­o­dus, with a record of four wins over the years; joint de­fend­ing cham­pi­ons BP Rene­gades on 13 wins; and rel­a­tive new­com­ers First Cit­i­zens Su­per­novas.