beenie man show review
Beenie Man, House of Blues, 10/27/01, review by emil click here for pictures page
On
Oct. 27th, Bud Light in co-operation with Changes promotion brought the
shocking vibes tour to the House of Blues. Chicago
Reggae.com arrived at the house of blues at 9:05 pm. Big Up to the Field Marshall for all
his assistance with the show. The Field Marshall was juggling some hardcore dancehall
tunes early in the night. The crowds slowly began to fill the House of Blues around 9:30
pm. The show eventually started with the Field Marshall giving an intro of the Ruff Cut
Crew. The Ruff Cut Crew is by far one of the
premier artist backing bands in JA.
First
out of the gate was the feisty Kirk Davis. Kirk Davis is a big guy with an incredible
vocal gift. Kirk Davis is from the Waterhouse area and credits his fame to entering an
area talent contest with friend and stable mate Beenie Man in 1981. As the story goes, each became winners of their
respective categories. Immediately
after the show, Patrick Roberts asked Kirk to join the Shocking Vibes label.
Kirk
Davis performed a few tunes from his current project. Kirk went through a dramatic cover
of 'Natural (Stay Away)’, which happens
to be the title song for his new album. Kirk continued with a strong performance of “Dem Girls” and “ She’s a go-go”. Kirk opened up his full range with tributes to
Dennis Brown, Beres Hammond and soothing rendition of Maxi Priest’s “Wild
World”. Kirk ended his set with a certified quality cover of Everton Blender’s
“Ghetto Peoples Song “ ending his set at 9:50 pm.
Silver
Cat AKA Neil
McDonald entered
the arena at 10:10 pm. Silver Cat burst on
stage in full military regalia. He had the appearance of Merciless in full camouflage
military gear at last years Sting 2000. Looking fit and ready for War, Silver Cat stated
he was ready for some serious business. Silver
Cat started with a new ganja tune, then shifting into an audience participated song
entitled “Whoa”, followed by a Bob Marley cover of “Who dem cap fit”
and “Natural Mystic”. Silver Cat ended his set with his ever-popular “Fowl
Affair”.
Next
on stage were Tanto Metro and Devonte. Tanto Metro and Devonte graced the stage with a
strong set of ballads. The first song was the smash single, “Gal say woyee”,
which received a huge forward from the crowd. One high point of their performance was the
singing challenge between the two. Tanto began to challenge Devonte on his singing
abilities. Tanto started with an operatic scale, while Devonte challenged with a classical
50’s number. The two really flexed their muscle vocally and the crowd was begging for
more. Devonte floored the place with his cover of Alicia Key’s “Fallin” and
the place went wild. Tanto Metro grabbed the mic and smoothly piped out the new Blu
Cantrell song “Hit em up style” with high-pitched perfection…ending the
challenge immediately. Next, the artists hit
the crowd with a few songs from their new album, “the Beat goes on”. The biggest
tunes from the new album are “Give it to
Her”, “Teaser”, ”Suzie” and “Fling it Up”. All of the
songs from “ The Beat Goes On” were presented well and their performance shows
great promise for the group’s second album.
The
Doctor was next to perform on stage. Beenie Man entered the stage with the crowd giving up
the loudest welcome of the night. Before performing, Beenie Man hushed the crowd and
warned them on the standards for the evening. Beenie proclaimed, “ Tonight is a
dancehall evening, not to be confused with a Reggae show. Dancehall is the music played
from Jamaica, played in the dancehall. So, don’t get confused if you’ve come for
a Reggae show! Tonight is a Dance Hall ting.” Beenie started off with a barrage of
his more recent tunes, “ Haters and Fools” and
“ Analyze This”. The tunes were mostly from his “Art &
Life” album. Beenie Man continued on with a dedication to older Caribbean tunes,
giving everyone a taste of Jamaica’s weighted contribution to music. He covered songs from “Day O”,“Get Something and
Wave” and even “Who let the dogs out?” The show included a few of his
older/harder tunes like “Memories”, “Defend
the Apache” and “Romie”. Beenie
spent most of the evening communicating the need for peace and the eradication of
black-on-black violence. Next, Beenie reached
the “Who Am I?” tune and broke it down slowly so the audience understood exactly
what the song was saying. He put a lot of focus on the line…”How could I make
love to a fella, in a rush, pass me the keys to my truck”. It seems, as the Doctor still has to sell the
people on the twist within the lyrics. Beenie had a few of the older tunes missing from
this year’s performance. It’s hard to say which of your old favorites should
have been slotted into the show. One patron was ticked off because she didn’t hear “her “ songs. I wanted to hear the
following tunes myself, like “World Dance” or “ Ole Dawg”. The Beenie set lasted for nearly an hour and a half.
Beenie covered a full range and it was well received as a class performance. We all have
to understand, Beenie Man has more hits than a retired boxer. If you had to add one
additional track to his performance schedule, it would take you all day to choose it.
The
show ended with mixed reviews from the patrons. Everyone thought Tanto Metro and Devonte
were superb. However, the massive was mixed on their response to Beenie Man’s set. Most saw his show as a move away from his hardcore
roots within dancehall. Some came out to
their first dancehall concert and loved the show. The
good are going to co-mingle with the bad in any concert. However, some dancehall artists
are really growing into diverse artists and this is good for the industry as a whole.
Overall,
the Shocking Vibe message for the evening was
peace and togetherness. All of the Shocking Vibes artists were in-sync with their message
of sorrow for the Sept. 11 catastrophe. More importantly, the message for the evening was
to live your life in peace and to get back to the way things use to be. The Show was
definitely one you wouldn’t have wanted to miss. Stay tuned for the Tanto Metro and
Devonte post show interview…. soon come!
home
advertise
get yours now |
