Shaggy, Mitchell Brunings and Chaka Demus and Pilers play the I Love Reggae Christmas Special at Birmingham Genting Arena - review

Dance floor favourites spilled out through the speakers Mitchell Brunings, Chaka Demus and Pilers, Maxi Priest and Shaggy brought the house down.

Seeing just one of the dancehall favourites would’ve been a gig worth catching on its own, so to see all four in same arena on the same night was something special.

The style of music began topping the charts during the late 1980s and into the 1990s and, although the genre is something of rarity these days, those who loved music 20-odd years ago still love it today.

Brunings' opening set included a catchy and upbeat version of Bob Marley’s Redemption Song and then followed Chaka Demus and Pilers.

The duo, who first met Jamaica, brought their jaunty dancehall-style beats to parties and the charts of Britain in the early 90s.

Launching into an upbeat cover of Marley’s Keep on Moving, they followed it up with one their all-time classics, She Don’t Let Nobody, which showed Pilers still had a pitch-perfect voice.

Perhaps their best known song followed as the audience got down and dirty to Tease Me, which returned everyone to their youth for five glorious minutes.

Another dance floor favourite, Murder She Wrote – which I think was played in every pub in the Midlands at weekends when it hit the charts – was introduced much to the crowd’s joy.

Two down, two to go and it was the time for London-born Maxi Priest to hit the stage.

‘I want to you guys scream’ he bellowed as his strolled out during Saturday night’s I Love Reggae Christmas Special – and the crowd duly obliged as he opened with toe-tapping Just a Little Bit Longer.

With his fans nicely limbered up, the drums and bass built up to arguably the best song of the evening as his crystal-clear voice delivered Close To You, which hit number seven in the UK charts back in 1990. Twenty-seven-years on, it remains as popular today as it was back then.

Oh baby, baby his fans loved that one and then he rounded off his stunning set another of his chart-topping smash hits, Wild World.

It was a hard act to follow but the always lively Shaggy, who jumps and jigs around the stage as much today as he did when he first burst onto the scene 20-odd years ago, stepped up.

Mr Lover Lover himself got everyone back in the zone opening with two of his classic hits, the catchy Boombastic followed by melodic Oh Carolina.

Things were momentarily slowed down as he serenaded the females in the crowd with Strength Of A Woman and then Angel.

He had time to give a shout out to ‘reggae lovin’ Birmingham’ before getting the crowd jumping for his most famous track of all, It Wasn’t Me.

The beat and melody behind the track made it a club favourite for years and Shaggy has become accustomed to restarting the song, getting the crowd to sing along – males and females a different times – and then ending it by running across the stage like a live-wire while his fans wave their hands.

There was still time for a cover of OMI’s Cheerleader to round off what was a truly memorable night of 1990s reggae that rekindled the crowd’s youth and relaunched the Christmas party season in style.

The four artists at the top of their game ensured the fans were treated to a truly memorable night. If there was anyone at the Genting Arena who didn’t love reggae before, they certainly did when they left.