Mavado makes Studio 38 his own

Hasani Walters, Gleaner Writer

In his performance at Studio 38 on Friday night, Mavado was the epitome of brilliance, as he wowed patrons with a seemingly never-ending stream of hits.

At minutes to 2 a.m. when he, the anticipated act of the night, hit the stage with So Special, it was non-stop entertainment for the remainder of the morning.

His early set included songs such as Real Mckoy, Full Clip, Wah Dem A Do, How High and Don't Worry, and those were just appetisers.

There were times when patrons merely stood and listened to him, paying keen attention to his every word. At other moments, they sang the lyrics of his songs along with him at the top of their voices.

The patrons seemed to enjoy every minute of his presence on the stage.

Although new, Don't Wanna Be A Memory received massive forwards from the crowd.

"Mi is not an artiste that will just sing anything out a mi mouth. Yuh notice wen mi jus buss an shoot up di place an easy ... an mi a gwaan good because there is no competition. There is no competition to the stepper, don't it?" he said, before going into Money Changer and Money.

'Nuh feed pon bulla'

He took a step from the stage to interact with female patrons in Mad Over, and they all held out hands hoping to get a hold of the 'Gully Gad'.

When the sounds of the Smoking rhythm bellowed from the speakers at Studio 38, the ladies screamed.

"Yow, weh di stulla dem deh? Weh di stulliesha dem deh?" he asked, introducing Stulla and declaring that "mi nuh feed pon bulla".

"Den if me a stulla, woman unnu a wah?" followed shortly, welcoming Stulliesha.

"Everybody weh rise from di ghetto fi unu song dis, yuh hear?" he said as he went into Starlight. When he asked the audience to sing along, they obediently obliged and sang word for word the song's chorus.

He spoke of the misconception of his song Tump, then he transferred the smile etched across his face when he heard the Star Bwoy rhythm onto the faces of those in the audience, by showing why "di gal dem waan star bwoy".

He gave an a cappella rendition of Delilah which the patrons eventually caught onto.

Dying, So Blessed, On The Rock, Overcome followed, and when the music stopped he laughingly asked, "Wah happen man, unnu run outta riddim? Riddim dun?"

That was not nearly the case, as several of his other popular songs were yet to come.

He seemed to have saved the best for last, however, as patrons went wild during Pepper.

"Love unnu! Yu hear dat?" were his final words.

Earlier in the night, patrons 'limed' and chatted while the deejay spun songs such as I Got A Feeling, Forget You, Only Girl In The World, Tik Tok and Please Don't Stop The Music.

Merciless, who had performed earlier, also did a tight set, calling on many songs from his extensive repertoire.