Jamworld staging to redeem Sting’s legacy

With 40 years of history under its belt, Sting is set to return 'home' in grand style.

Following a brief sojourn to the north coast with its Plantation Cove staging last year, founder Isaiah Laing says Sting's return to Jamworld in Portmore, St Catherine, will surpass all their other stagings.

"Sting has returned. Sting is back to its glory days and nobody can't tell me nothing. This is gonna be one of the biggest crowds you'll ever see at Jamworld. The last time we had 10 giants, we had over 26,000 people. There is a lot of people that have not seen a Sting show yet, and this is gonna be their first time because we have so much young artistes that are burning the streets right now," he said.

Laing told THE WEEKEND STAR that not only will it eclipse last year's crowd, but the quality of the show will harken back to the glory days.

"I am sure we will have a bigger crowd than last year, because the acts that we have going on stage this year - they are giants. And everybody has them crowd pulling. I was never for it, that young artistes alone should work. There must be a mixture, that ever since [when] we coming up, we always had young artistes at the front and the other ones piloting. You can't just take up pure young artistes and say, 'Yeah, them pulling crowd.' No, it wasn't my idea and I'm not going to take no more beating for it."

While veterans like Tanya Stephens, Major Mackerel, Turbulence, Spragga Benz, Anthony B are sure to carry their built-in audiences, newcomers like Kyodi, Fully Bad and Honormosity will be reigniting the class spirit through their face-off. The launch event, hosted at The Balcony in New Kingston, saw the rising stars trade lyrical blows in one-minute intervals, giving the crowd a taste of just what they have to look forward to.

With the atmosphere seemingly charged up and slightly nostalgic for the Sting of old, the veterans present couldn't help but praise the organisers.

"A from August mi a promote Sting pon Original Dancehall Thursdayz," Major Mackerel began in his usual drawl. "I want the world [to] know seh Sting will be streaming to 177 different countries this year. So Missa Laing, I love you fi life. You can trust me with your daughter and yuh wife." He said that he was approached to perform at the 2022 staging, but declined when he saw the line-up.

"We glad say Sting return to its original home, and we glad say Jamworld is the official home of Sting."