The lead singer of 'Burning Flames' out of Antigua (at left) and Kevin Little (right) performing 'Turn Me On' at 'Islands in the Park', Atlanta, Georgia. Right: Shaggy flashes a disarming smile at the photographer. - Yolande Gyles Photos The West Indies took over a piece of Atlanta, Georgia, on Sunday with the help of Shaggy, Burning Flames and Byron Lee and the Dragonaires, among others, at the first staging of Air Jamaica's 'Islands in the Park' in that southern United States city.
The Caribbean-flavoured exposition and concert were held on the sprawling grounds of the Georgia International Horse Park in Conyers the site of the equestrian events at the 1996 Olympics.
Despite wet and dark conditions caused by dissipating tropical storm Hanna, well over 12,000 people attended the event to catch their favourite Caribbean musical acts for free.
The concert began shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the latin-flavoured sounds of Tune from Curacao. The group entertained a venue, which at that time had more exhibitors than patrons, with some of their Dutch language originals as well as their interpretations of songs like Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You and Jennifer Lopez's If You Had My Love.
They were followed by Tradewinds from the Cayman Islands, who dipped heavily into the soca bag to drop songs like Move by Square One and Rupee's Blame It On The Music.
By the time Antigua and Barbuda's Burning Flames hit the stage, the crowd had increased to a few hundred people who seemed ready to recreate a J'ouvert scene, wining and prancing about in the mud.
Burning Flames started their set off with their early '90s hit Workie Workie before segueing into Carnival Baby, Swinging Engine and I Command You. For this song their lead singer and keyboardist donned a magician's cape and a magic wand and performed a trick. He filled a glass with water and warned the crowd, "The words that I am about to say must not be tried at home, as you may find the devil turn up on your doorstep the next morning." After saying them he let go of the glass and had it suspended in mid-air. The group closed their lively set with their latest hit Mash It Up and the crowd, which was largely comprised of West Indians, did proceed to 'mash up' the ground.
After a brief interlude of music and a band change, came Barbados' Krosfyah, which played all their favourites, old and new, including Sak Passe. The group told the audience, "We from the West-Indies, and rain never stop a fete yet, we love it more when it rain." The crowd revelled to songs like Pump Me Up, Sweatin' and Crank It.
Next came Trinidad and Tobago's Traffik, which managed to whip the growing crowd into a frenzy by pulling on-stage with them Super P, who performed his Crop Over hit Peepin', and Kevin Little, who certainly had the women going with his song Turn Me On.
However, as good as the soca performances were, the crowd was waiting for 'Mr. Boombastic' himself, Shaggy. When he was being called on- stage, the crowd, which had previously numbered a few hundred, swelled to thousands. There was also a minor traffic jam outside the venue. Unperturbed by the weather, Shaggy told the crowd "I like it moist."
He then went into his songs, Mr. Lover, Oh Carolina and brought Rayvon on-stage for songs like Nice and Lovely and Angel. He then called on Rik Rok and the two began their monster hit It Wasn't Me.
Shaggy explained to the crowd that the song was done because "Men always get caught. Women never get caught, that leads me to one conclusion. Women are smart and men are stupid."
Before closing his near hour-long performance, he unleashed two songs from his soon-to-be-released album, Lucky Day. The first was Strength of a Woman and then the latin-flavoured Sexy Lady, which is currently enjoying heavy rotation in the United States.
Byron Lee and the Dragonaires closed the night with some of their old hits like Tiny Winey and Soca Butterfly as well as playing Beenie Man's Nuff Gyal.
Along with the music, there were exhibits from a number of Caribbean companies including Grace Kennedy, Victoria Mutual Building Society, Sandals, and Western Union, as well as from a few tourist boards such as St. Lucia and Grenada.
Atlanta was the final leg of the 'Islands in the Park' series. Previously there were shows in New York, Washington D.C. and Miami in the US, and in Manchester, England.
