Carnival 2013, Austin “SuperBlue” Lyons has won the Road March title while Brian MacFarlane copped the coveted Band of the Year. It was the ninth Road March for Lyons and eighth Band of the Year title for MacFarlane. Lyons also tied for first place with Machel Montano in a tight Power Soca Monarch competition last Friday. The race for Road March was not tight, however, as there was no question about Lyons’ win.
The song Fantastic Friday was played a record-breaking 511 times during Carnival Monday and Tuesday, according to results released by the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisation (Tuco) yesterday. The Road March record was previously held by JW & Blaze for their 2010 Road March song Palance, which was played 417 times. Montano’s Float was played only 56 times this year.
In an interview, Lyons said he was happy about the 2013 Carnival season. This year signified a major comeback for Lyons, who had been low key since his last Road March win in 2000, performing mostly at selected events featuring stars of yesteryear and with his daughter Fay Ann Lyons and his son-in-law Bunji Garlin. Lyons’ last Soca Monarch title was in 2000, then for the sixth time.