Konshens delivers at Studio 38

Studio 38 in New Kingston is celebrating its two-year anniversary. And as an element of the celebration, Kingsley Cooper and his team have been hosting a series of weekly live performances, featuring some of the most talented acts locally, like Tanya Stephens and, most recently, Konshens.

On Friday night, Konshens played to a full house, taking the stage after 11 p.m., singing Keep Badmind Outa Yu Heart.

Clad in grey pants, a pullover jacket and dark shades, female patrons applauded his entrance. However, they remained seated during his singing of the single Bounce Like A Ball.

Konshens seemingly not accustomed to performing high-energy songs to a seated crowd, attempted to get the audience to participate.

"Mi want unno stand up," he said, but to no avail. He then said, "Big up mi Sunday people dem, but mi naah guh mek unno spoil up mi Friday evening," and proceeded to sing Duh Di Thing Nuh Please and Good Girl Gone Bad.

The audience loved the songs and rewarded him with sounds of approval, but the majority still remained firmly seated, sipping their wine and enjoying their meal.

Konshens was later joined by Voicemail to sing their collaboration Last Drink. The females sang along to each line, and Konshens, who was in the mood for making some trouble, teased them with his Cashflow Record-produced hit single Forward.

Punishing the audience

The audience was drawn to the song as he introduced it. However, the artiste directed the DJ to skip the track, claiming that he was punishing the audience for not standing during his set. "Mi a spite unno ... because unno a behave like a Sunday crowd," he laughed.

The event was interactive, as patrons were able to hear short stories from the artiste at intervals throughout his performance. They also got the chance to ask questions of their own, as those who were brave enough to shout out a question did so, and were sure to get a response.

Konshens was later joined by his brother Delus and fellow artiste Darrio. They were well received as they did a few collaborations and individual singles.

Delus' What Tomorrow May Bring and Darrio's live performance antics had the audience captivated.

Konshens also premiered a new single called God Love Mi and performed a sexually-taunting rendition of Lil' Wayne and Kelly Rowland's Motivation for the females.

Earlier in the show, Cooper allowed time for some young acts to gain some exposure on stage.

The first young act was Mystic Bailey, a model/singer representing Pulse.

She sang Rihanna's California King Bed and Man Down, and the audience gave her a warm reception after sitting and listening to her attentively.

The next fresh act for the patrons to digest before the main appetiser was Chronixx, a young man who hails from Spanish Town.

The artiste thrilled the crowd with original songs Tell Mi Now, Sweet Love and Capitalist. He performed for about 20 minutes and the audience begged for more. After his much-appreciated performance Cooper made the prediction that this young act would be reggae's next superstar.

The Gleaner left the venue at 12:30 a.m., as Konshens was busy giving life lessons and sharing personal experiences with his interactive 'Sunday crowd' on a Friday.