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In the year 2000, Shaggy excited the world with a song titled It Wasn’t Me and 25 years later, when he pulled the track out of his arsenal of hit tunes at the Issa Foundation, For the Children charity concert, it was like living in 2000 all over again. Whereas Shaggy, understandably, doesn’t look exactly the same as he did more than two decades ago, It Wasn’t Me was fresh – not a speck of dust has gathered on the story of epic infidelity and a lie so blatant that it is almost credible.
But, authentic and credible, mixed with a big stage presence is what the Grammy winner does best and last Saturday night the crowd was there for Shaggy. It was a seated audience at Couples San Souci in St Ann, and the diamond-selling artiste wasn’t having it. During his hour-long set, he managed to coax almost everybody out of their seat at some point or the other, most of them singing along with him and others even taking on the fun “go down deh” challenge, even if they struggled to come back up.
“Oonu ready? Put your hands in the air! Let’s go! One, two, three ... let’s go!” Mr Boombastic told his fans as he carried them through various genres and nearly 30 years of hit songs with favourites such as Angel, Summertime, Strength of a Woman, Oh Carolina, Hey Sexy Lady, Go Down Deh, It Wasn’t Me and the latest big bad tune out of his crocus bag of hit tunes, the feel-good collab with Sting, Til A Mawnin’. “ Pull up the vibes cause the music is sweet, yeah/Shaggy got lyrics to spit on this beat, yeah ... selecta play da big tune yah fi me/Right back til a mawnin’, hey!”
Shaggy’s band was on point and so too was his sidekick, Jungle God, who told The Gleaner that “the crowd, the energy ... it was wonderful.” Jungle, who is the vocalist with his own band, has been on the road with Shaggy for more than 10 years, but Saturday night was his second performance with Shaggy in Jamaica and he was over the moon.
Shaggy also had one special guest in the form of the smooth Maxi Priest, who did one song.
President & CEO, Issa Trust Foundation, Diane Pollard, described the concert as “one of the most powerful and moving events I’ve had the honour to be part of. From the very first note, the energy, love, and sense of purpose were undeniable”.
She commended the children from Tessanne Chin’s Voice Box, who opened the show at 8:35 with a snazzy performance “for kids from kids”. Dressed in full white, the talented Voice Box ensemble thrilled with It’s a Beautiful Day, Day O, O Happy Day and others.
For Pollard, their performance “felt like a full-circle moment of inspiration and hope”.
Reggae singer, Lila Iké made a striking For the Children concert début. All dolled up, she put her best heels forward – taking them off later to get comfy – and, aware that it is harder to rock a seated audience, she gave it her best shot and had can be justifiably proud of herself. Her constant “vibes check” made her realise that there were some real OG Lila fans in the audience and for them, she performed I Spy. Addressing the importance of mental health, especially in children, Lila Iké closed out her 45-minute set with the hugely popular Where I’m Coming From.
Pollard shared that she was “touched by Lila’s sincerity and deep concern for Jamaica’s children ... she’s not only an artiste, she’s an advocate”.
Commending Shaggy for “giving it his all” Pollard noted that “every ticket purchased, every note sung, brought us one step closer to opening the Mary Issa Paediatric and Adolescent Health Centre”, the beneficiary of all proceeds from the event.
Chairman of the Issa Trust Foundation, Paul Issa thanked all the sponsors “for making this happen, and everyone who bought a ticket or donated or bid on an item at our silent auction”.
“It was a great night at Couples Sans Souci in Ocho Rios! Wonderful entertainment, food, drink ... everyone coming together to have a good time while supporting the completion of the Mary Issa Paediatric and Adolescent Health Centre in St Ann, a project to which the Issa Trust Foundation is totally committed,” Issa said.
Hosts for the evening were Wayne and Tami Mitchell, whose delightful on-stage bantering segued into an all-out tune-fi-tune clash. It was exciting. The jury is still out on who was the winner.
English (US) ·