Wayne Wonder at Park West Chicago; 9.13.03
All pics by Carmen Maria
Review By Montana
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After a false warning back in April, Wayne Wonder was finally, oficially set to arrive in Chicago for the first time since blazing up the US charts and locking down MTV and BET with his hit single, "No letting go, No Holding Back."  I personally was waiting to hear him do old favorites like, "Informer" and "Bashment Girl"  on the Joyride riddim.

We arrived to the venue around 10:48 pm and Rasta Kelly was onstage doing his rendition of Busta Rhyme's "Baby if you give it to me...".  The venue is set up with catacombs of booths and tables like one would see in a comedy club, with a wooden dancefloor directly in front of the raised stage.  Kelly was singing from the floor and everyone was seated at this point.

10:51 Dilly Cris entered in true superstar fashion from the back of the venue, walking through the crowd with mic in hand.  He immediately tried to get everyone up to the times by performing the, "Signal the Plane" dance and trying to hype up all of the ladies.  I'd rate him as a very good stage performer/DJ. You can learn more about him on www.houseoffirerecords.com. 

11:07 Cojo came out with mic in hand to hype up the crowd and I must say, Cojo was trying HARD!  Yelling and dancing with such energy that you had to be sleeping if it didn't get you a little hype just listening to him or watching him.  Big up Cojo for all the effort because the crowd was sure dead at the point he came on and standing by the time he left the mic.

11:27 Cojo, Phantom and crew had the crowd doing the latest dances like the Signal the Plane, Row the Boat, Chop the Grass, Parachute, etc. etc.

11:57 Nicole Prescott from Trinidad came out to do some singing.  "Lawd girl, where did you get those scandalous jeans? I want to find a pair like that!!" I felt like asking her because they were so incredibly low that  i felt like i shouldn't have even been watching as she gyrated  throughout her 10 minute set.

12:07 The DIZ from GCI and Cojo came out to do some talking on the mic.  I could tell that DIZ didn't know what Cojo was saying half of the time and that was amusing to me for some reason...

12:13 Cojo Phantom and Swacky ran some old tunes like, "Dennis Brown's Love and Happiness" and juggled for around a half hour.

12:42 Wayne Wonder came out strongly with "Searching and Searching" and then did a couple of tunes on the Joyride.  I was pleasantly surprised because i was wearing my chicagoreggae.com "Bashment Girl" shirt and that was one of the tunes he did.  Complete coincidence (unlike the Champion shirt I wore to Buju...)   I was also surprised because for some reason, I didn't expect Wayne's voice to be that strong in person.  Even with the echo set up on the mic, his voice was as strong in person as it is on record, which is rare for singers nowadays...  I was also pleasantly surprised when he performed, "Informer" but then disappointed as he turned it into a ROCK music medley complete with electric guitar wailing!  Oh well, at least I heard the song, I told myself.

Wayne ended with his hit single, "No letting Go" where he invited some females from the audience onstage to re-enact the video in fine Chicago style.

After the show, Wayne was very courteous and signed autographs and took pictures for the fans.  Big thanks to Wonderful Entertainment and Crew, Winston Harriott and everyone who made this show possible!