Sting Moves To New North Coast Location, 15 Dancehall Heavyweights Booked So Far
The Isiah Laing-led Supreme Promotions has announced a new venue on Jamaica’s North Coast for Sting, which is making its return in 2022, after a seven-year hiatus, on its usual date, Boxing Day, December 26.
The Greatest One Night Reggae and Dancehall Show is set for Grizzly’s Entertainment Center at Plantation Cove, near Ocho Rios in St. Ann, a shift from Jamworld, its original home located in Portmore, St. Catherine.
According to the management team, the return of Sting is in response to what it describes as “the resounding and now deafening clarion calls for a true stage upon which to hone and test the lyrical mettle and audience mastery” of the new wave of dancehall’s young deejays.
In a release, Supreme Promotions said that to date, more than “15 top-ranked, lyrically savvy, and popular reggae and dancehall artistes” have been booked for Sting 2022, and that Dancehall lovers can look forward to seeing “an impressive line-up of reggae and dancehall superstars” on the show, which will also be streamed across the world via its streaming platform.
The release did not provide details on which Reggae and Dancehall artists were booked for the show’s return. However, the promoters noted that “the list continues to rise as word of Sting’s staging hits the ground.”
“As it has done for its over three decades of existence, Sting 2022 on December 26 will provide the fertile ground on which to test the depth and breadth of dancehall’s top ranked, newly emerged, and emerging stars,” it added.
As has been the popular sentiment in Dancehall, Supreme Promotions also concurred that the onstage clash element in Dancehall culture on which the show is predicated, remains “critical to the grooming and rounded development of Dancehall’s top lyricists who must make their mark and prove their mettle on a live and interactive stage, even while they churn out hits after hits in the studio”.
“As dancehall’s cycle of production moves away from the stage and onto the internet, Sting’s role as the testing ground of stagecraft mastery becomes even more critical… Sting remains the people’s choice for cutting-edge Reggae and Dancehall entertainment. The people have spoken. Sting has responded. It is time to hone and showcase the lyrical mastery and stagecraft of our artistes,” the release noted.
The release also described Sting as “the seminal and only true stage for the grooming of young, not-so young, and popular dancehall artistes in the art of stagecraft and lyrical mastery, before a live and interactive audience”.
In January 2020, Laing, who is a retired policeman, had said the show was on for December that year. However, it was later aborted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the time Laing had said in an interview, that he had been mulling staging the show over the years, after he decided to abort it in 2015, due to among other things, a lack of sponsorship.
Back in 2015, in elaborating on the matter, Laing had said Sting had not made money in several years, despite significant investment from the likes of Josef Bogdanovich, who subsequently moved on to revamp Reggae Sumfest. Laing and his business partner Heavy D had also explained that artistes who had the wherewithal to pull a crowd, were also unwilling to perform on the show.
However, since Laing’s January 2020 announcement, Dancehall fans had been clamoring for the show’s return, which they argue would bring life into Dancehall and separate the lyrical heavyweights from the weak new artists, who have only been clashing on social media.
After the initial announcement was made on Sunday morning at the close of Reggae Sumfest, Code artist Brysco had expressed glee that the show would be returning, noting that some Dancehall artistes were now facing a huge dilemma.
“Some artiste inna trouble, becaw Sting come back an oonu haffi prove to di people dem seh oonu yuh bad. Tank yuh faada,” Brysco had said, as he clasped hands with, and embraced the approving Laing.
Born Fighter artist Jahshii has also proposed an onstage clash at Sting with Montego Bay’s Silk Boss, who has thrown two diss songs at him so far.
Among some of the most talked-about musical showdowns at Sting is the Super Cat versus Ninjaman clash in 1991, which did not get to be completed as fans rained bottles onstage during the performance.
Another clash was Vybz Kartel versus Mavado in 2008 and the infamous Vybz Kartel versus Ninjaman in 2003 in which Kartel and his entourage physically assaulted the Don Gorgon, shocking the nation.
The most celebrated clash in the history of Sting was the legendary, but peaceful matchup between then arch-rivals Beenie Man and Bounty Killer in 1993. That showdown sparked one of the greatest lyrical rivalries in Dancehall history, which spanned many years and which also and propelled both men into household names in Jamaica.