THE atmosphere inside the tightly packed Usain Bolt’s Tracks and Records was one filled with excitement on Tuesday night.

On the outside, traffic crawled at snail’s pace for hours while other motorists skilfully parked their vehicles on the sidewalks due to the filled parking lots inside Marketplace on Constant Spring Road.

The occasion? Dancehall artiste Beenie Man was the guest performer at the weekly Behind the Screen concert series.

All it took was his trademark ‘Zagga Zow’ for the audience to erupt with cheers and screams. Among the ‘doctor’s’ opening songs were Across the Bridge, Bad Man Wicked Man, World Dance, Sim Simma, and Blackboard.

“Shell it, Dada,” shouted a male fan as Beenie Man hurled another string of hit songs, including Nuff Gyal, Let Him Go, Memories and Bookshelf.

All the artiste needed to do was to begin the intro to each song and the audience engaged in a sing-a-long. Throughout most of his almost two-hour performance, the entertainer kept it mostly vintage, delivering some of his best hits of the 1990s. Also joining him on stage for collaborations were Silver Cat, Chronicles, Baby Chris and New Kidz.

Between songs, the dancehall artiste voiced his concern about the entertainers whose visas were revoked and urged the relevant authorities to address the matter. It was almost 1:00 am before the King of the Dancehall made his exit from centrestage.

Although the majority inside Tracks and Records enjoyed Beenie’s set, at least one person voiced his concern about the longevity of the music.

“Beenie Man will continue to be one of the greatest dancehall artistes of all times. However, he doesn’t know when to stop performing. Also, his songs of choice can only mean one thing, and that is that no one is making lasting music anymore. The best part of dancehall was the ’90s and he (Beenie Man) proved it tonight. He barely touched his new tunes,” said 34-year-old Travis Taylor.

The Behind the Screen series continues next week with Lady Saw.