Artistes take a stand at Red Stripe Live

Patrons were treated to an eclectic music collection at the successful, inaugural Red Stripe Live series held last Saturday at the Red Stripe Oval on Spanish Town Road.

The event, which attracted a wide cross section of persons who filled the oval by 9:35 p.m., showcased a total of four entertainers on the line-up. They included Tifa and Agent Sasco, both of whom were featured on the Jamaican beer brand’s Journey with Stripe EP released last August; Pastor Stephen Blake, playing under the moniker ‘Pastor of the Dancehall’ and 2018 breakout dancehall star Rygin King. The were accompanied by the Sound Agents Band, which hit all the right notes, while the dancers complementing the acts showed off moves which were uncharacteristically clean-cut, bordering on censored.

Head-turner for the night Pastor of the Dancehall, showing his versatility, kick-started the movement with his gospel-dancehall fusion Running Away: God Save Adijah Palmer, which comes with a dance called ‘push them up’, which had patrons waving their hands in the air.

“It’s reggae and it’s dancehall, but following our brand promoter policy, we not only encourage persons to drink responsibly, but also to enjoy themselves responsibly,” assistant brand manager, Reshima Kelly, explained as a few persons questioned the reason the dancers were not carrying on with the usual splits and flips to Tifa’s 2016 single, Big Bumper.

As the only female dancehall entertainer on the live show, Tifa brought with her the attitude to start the party and had members of the audience gyrating in true dancehall fashion to the rhythms being played by the live music accompaniment.

Agent Sasco, known as another ebullient performer, was able to maintain that energy following Tifa’s approximately 35-minute set. He, too, gave an extended performance, not only belting out some of the ‘days of Assassin’ (his former moniker) dancehall classics like Step Pon Dem and Idiot Ting Dat but also Capleton’s Or Wah featured on the same Renaissance-produced Stepz Riddim.

Finding favour with the crowd, the Winning Right Now entertainer commented on stage that he did not want to hear anything about the time allotted to him while giving his fans what they wanted to hear –decent, fun and thought-provoking Jamaican music.

Following the show, Agent Sasco told The Gleaner, “The phrase ‘Stand Up Fi Di Jamaican Music’, to me means understanding that we are blessed to have distinct genres of music that are recognized worldwide that are true, viable natural resources.”

And he guarantees that by standing up on stage and delivering to the patrons the performance for which they paid.

Rygin King ended the show on a good note, pulling the audience even closer to the stage as they jostled to savour more of the penetrating vocals from the dancehall singjay.

Stand Up For Your Stripe

The Red Stripe Live series, which, according to Kelly, is a continuation of their “Stand Up for Your Stripe” campaign launched last summer, forms part of the brand’s initiative to continue building local culture.

“Over the past year we have evaluated how we approach [event] sponsorships by changing the focus to investing in our own properties thus we invested in Red Stripe Oval that is synonymous with music, which is what our brand believes in,” Kelly told The Gleaner prior to the start of the live show.

She added, “You find that emerging artistes, established artistes whether locally or internationally based are using pieces of Jamaican music to get that unique sound that they want. As such, it is important to Red Stripe as a local brand to become involved in that progression of our culture and the way that best fits.”

It is expected that the series will continue for the rest of the year, with approximately three or four more shows in the calendar at the same venue.