BUNJI GARLIN invaded the Army Fete on Friday night and marched off with the hearts and minds of the massive crowd.

Lyrics upon lyrics were belted out by the artiste who, along with wife and band mate, Fay-Ann Lyons-Alvarez had the Queen's Park Savannah, Port of Spain under tight control with members of the audience in awe as they watched the performance and antics which made them the most popular soca artistes that night.

The Army Fete was not without its share of politics as Bunji explained his reasons for not competing in this year's Soca Monarch competition, the finals of which is scheduled for Friday.

Garlin said he and his wife were in the business of entertaining and making people happy and had grown tired of the competitive nature of the industry which they said promoted strife among those in their fraternity.

Leading the charge earlier was Kes the Band who brought their own energy as well.

Riding the wave of popularity since last year, frontman Kees Dieffenthaller entertained the crowd with his latest offerings followed by his trademark song "Wotless".

Present on site on Friday night was Swappi with his "Bucket" song, as well as heavyweight in the business, Neil "Iwer The Boss" George with his diesel riddum which also sent the crowd into a frenzy.

George's, "Jab Jab" song appeared to be drawn from a much more traditional aspect of soca and he too proved that a presence on stage versus the recorded version were two entirely different things.

George also proved that to move a Trinidad and Tobago crowd, the offering had to be excellent but delivery of the offering also needed to be spot on.

Throughout the night heavily armed soldiers were seen patrolling the general audience area as well as the backstage, VIP and the grounds surrounding the fete venue.

On a few occasions a few men attempted to fight but their forays into violence did not last long as within seconds they were surrounded by a group of men and women in green army fatigues following which they were hauled out of the fete.