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Kanye West - Jean Pierre Complex - Trinidad - December 22 2005

He didn?t curse. He didn?t lip sync. And after almost an hour in the presence of eight-time Grammy Award-nominated artiste Kanye West, it was clear to all why he?s on top of his game.

The bMobile-sponsored Touch the Sky concert, staged at the Jean Pierre Complex on Thursday, began at 10 pm.

Road March monarch Shurwayne Winchester kicked off proceedings in a lively fashion, offering tunes like Baby Love, Come Beta, Dead or Alive, Look the Band Coming and his 2006 Don?t Stop, as five big screens projected his music videos.

Ably assisted by his Traffik bandmate Candi Hoyte, Winchester then took the sizeable crowd to school?old school?with songs like Doug E Fresh and Slick Rick?s The Show, Children?s Story and Hey Pockaway.

Bunji Garlin, when he appeared on stage about 20 minutes later, seemed to follow Winchester?s lead. The man they call the Fireman tapped into 80s classic TV for his retro trip. His set included songs from Sesame Street and the theme from the Littlest Hobo.

Snake Oil and Blaze the Fire were also part of Garlin?s set.

When Machel Montano and Xtatik faced the audience at just after midnight, the crowd stageside thickened.

Patrons flooded the area designated for the media, jumping, waving and screaming as Montano ran through the band?s hits Good Reputation, Madder Than Dat, Is Carnival, You and No War at a hot and sweaty pace.

The concert wasn?t without hiccups.

Breaks between acts were far too long, and before West took the stage, MC/DJ Hypa Hoppa had started to annoy those present by quizzing them on every song his DJ played in an effort to kill time.

Some patrons showed their disgust with Hoppa by texting nasty messages about him to 8788, taking advantage of TSTT?s night-long offer to have their text messages appear on the big screen. ?Get off the stage, Hypa,? was one of the publishable ones.

When that didn?t work, chants of ?Kanye!? grew stronger from an audience that was both impatient and wet from a nagging drizzle.

But the wait for West was worth every second of it.

Dressed in a silk floral shirt, white jeans and sunglasses, West mounted the stage to the haunting strains of Shirley Bassey?s voice on the introduction to Diamonds from Sierra Leone.

Hands went into the air and lips moved along with West?s as he sang tunes like Touch the Sky, Roses, Gone, Hey Mama, All Falls Down and Slow Jams.

West seemed clearly impressed by the audience?s knowledge of every track he pulled out of his hat, and he told them so.

?I can tell you supported my College Drop Out and Late Registration albums. Thank you very much.?

The night?s faux pas would come from Hypa Hoppa, who, after West took his exit from stage, came on to encourage the crowd to call the rapper back.

Suddenly, West?s voice came from backstage, calling for Hoppa to ?get off the mic.?

West?s exit, it seemed, was planned to build momentum for his hit song Jesus Walks?which he sang once Hoppa was offstage. He delivered the tune with an accapella interlude mid-song, accompanied by six members of the St Augustine Chamber Orchestra. It was pore-raising.

The group only rehearsed with the back-up band a few hours before the concert, the orchestra?s stage manager Stephen Howard said afterwards.

At almost 3 am, West closed his set with the extremely popular Gold Digger.

The show?s sponsor, bMobile, had given out some 15,000 free tickets to the event. The audience seemed to be not much larger than that. The sponsors also gave away five Motorola Razr cellphones to people who sent texts to the big screen.