Sting 2009 really missed the clash between Kartel and Bounty although they all performed

After its staging at Jamworld on Boxing Day, Supreme Promoters, producers of Sting, can no longer claim the title “Greatest one-night show on earth”. There was nothing great about Sting; it was pop dung from start to finish ... and then some.


The promoters were riding on the peace bandwagon, but at no point was there any mention of the peace pact, and worse, former rival deejays Vybz Kartel and Mavado did not appear on stage together to perform even one song. As for the star attraction – headliners Goofy and LA Lewis --- they were not seen or heard from and no explanation was given for their absence.


Instead of entertainment, patrons were fed a steady diet of upcoming acts who had no business on the Sting stage, not even during early juggling, much more at 4:00 am prime time. This was clearly an act of disrespect for patrons who spent their hard-earned recession dollars in the hope of getting some kind of enjoyment.


Persons were led to believe that Stacious -- with whom the notorious Lisa Hype has a furious lyrical fued – would have performed, but although she was inside the venue, she never made it on stage. As for Spice, it’s possible that some of her fans are still at Jamworld waiting to see her performance, because she was ready and waiting in the wings for her time to shine, but as the sun shone brighter, all hope of Spice performing slowly faded.


Sting was just one long weary night that turned into an even wearier morning. The energy of the patrons was so sapped, that by the time two gun shots rang out sometime after seven Sunday morning, the crowd could hardly react to this well-known Sting signal that “the party is about to begin”. They didn’t even bother to pick up their feet in their hands and do their usual 20 laps around Jamworld, pushing and shoving and screaming, while the emcee begs until he’s hoarse for the restoration of calm and order. In fact, many persons didn’t even flinch.


The few acts, who did well (out of the 120 advertised) included Twins of Twins, whose biting, informed commentary was so on point and witty that they should have been given no less than one hour during prime time; Chino, who has two big tunes this year, Never Change and Woman Pon Your Head and really gave fans their money’s worth; Chuck Fender, now known as the Living Fire and I-Octane, who got a good reception but spent too much time cussing off the media.


The clash between Kip Rich and General B injected some energy into the event, but it was a given that General B would have met his lyrical death ... yet again. Merciless, Bounty Killer, Mavado, Vybz Kartel and Lisa Hype were all entertaining to varying degrees.

Note to Mr Laing: Red Bull cans filled with dirt make excellent missiles.
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BY RICHARD JOHNSON
Monday, December 28, 2009

THE Jamworld Entertainment Complex in Portmore experienced a tremor at 5:50 on Sunday morning when MC Nuffy announced his next act on the Sting stage. In a night that proved to be long and taxing, this was to be the first and perhaps only unanimous reponse to an artiste.

She was billed as one of the night's major acts. Since an explicit photo of her appeared on the Internet, Lisa Hype's popularity has soared beyond measure. She rode this popularity straight to Sting. Dressed in gold from head to toe, the petite artiste burst onto the stage on the shoulders of a burly black buck, she immediately began taking on her many detractors and left them for dead. However, her most biting lyrics were saved for fellow female artiste, Stacious. Both acts have been battling it out in the studios and the media and this was Lisa's first time to vent live. She went about it in a no-holds-barred fashion highlighting Stacious' tongue ring, compared to her small lip piercing. Lisa Hype is clearly a young artiste who has been thrown in at the deep end, and although she battled to stay afloat at times, she is definitely a fighter with a big heart and therefore drowning was not an option. Her 10-minute set was punctuated with salutes and forwards which only helped her with her confidence. At the end of the set she could proudly strut off stage -- mission accomplished.

Another moment of excitement on the Sting stage was Kip Rich. He is one of those artistes who has literally grown up on the stage, from a shy young act, to a full-fledged heavyweight. At last year's staging of Sting he showed exactly what he was made of and this year he was cemented his position. At 7:00 am Monster Hemp Higher's General B was on stage and it was at this moment that 'Kippo' decided to roll on and launch his attack. Dressed in black from head to toe, Kip Rich was ready for war. What ensued for the next 8-10 minutes was an entertaining classic dancehall clash. Both aristes went head-to-head, no holds barred and at the end of it, Kippo stood tall. A dejected General B was spotted leaving the venue shortly after.

Twin of Twins injected their brand of humour, throwing words at fellow artistes. The crowd loved their jabs at Busy Signal for his reference to 'Gary' in the track One More Night. They too, like quite a number of artistes took a 'swipe' at Lisa Hype.

The major acts -- Merciless, Mavado, Bouny Killer and Vybz Kartel, arrived in that order, in a blaze of glory accompanied by their entourages. However, despite the fact that their introductions were greeted with a fair amount of hype, the fireworks from past performances was definitely missing by sunrise on Sunday.

In the early segments of the show it was DJ Face who brought the first spark of life to Jamworld. She too took on her fellow female artistes including Lisa Hype (of course), Tifa, Macka Diamond and Queen Paula. The early birds inside Jamworld enjoyed this. The Living Fire -- the artiste formerly known as Chuck Fenda would also inject life into the show with a stinging set. However, like so many acts past and present, he committed the sin of running off stage and then ran out of steam by the time he was called back.

The other sets which were memorable, were Etana, whose performance could have been ruined by a power outage on stage, she instead ket the vibe going performing without music or microphone to those up from and involving them in the act. Veteran Lady G was short and spicy, but still managed to use her experience to woo the Sting crowd. G-Whizz gave a decent account of himself and had it made by the time he got around to performing his hit tune, Life. Chino is proving to be quite the performer the crowd inside Jamworld loved it. What more can be said about Flippa Mafia, the money tossing, champagne popping, Flossing King. He did his thing and a few people were all the richer for it. Then there was Pamputtae. The black lace body suit and strategically place sequins gave an indication of what was to come and she delivered.

Reggae stage shows, the magnitude of Sting, have a formula -- clash, 'throw wud', 'bag a young artistes' and stand out performances. When all these elements come together, in their correct proportions, what you have is undiluted success.

Saturday's staging of Sting all these element, however the proportions were oh so wrong. This year's formulation was ruined by an overdose of the 'bag a young artistes'. One patron remarked, "Is a talent show Laing a put on." Another was equally scathing and noted that the major acts did not begin to surface until after 4:30 am.