Sting promoter Laing believed ‘God would fix it’ for him

God-fearing is perhaps not the first, nor the second, nor even the third adjective of choice which onlookers would use to describe Isaiah Laing, the ex-policeman and the promoter of ‘the greatest one-night reggae and dancehall show on Earth, Sting. However, praises to his God were the first words that fell from Laing’s lips at the uber successful relaunch of the storied Boxing Day event last Tuesday at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

Resplendent in a red suit and spanking new, shiny black shoes, the man who is named after one of the greatest prophets in the Bible spoke passionately about Sting’s seven years in exile from the annual calendar of events and what the relaunch meant to him.

“Yes, I dream of this,” Laing said, before emphasising where the real power lies. “But I believe in my God and that my God is always going to fix it for me. And He said ‘stay still for seven years and then said ‘rise my son ... rise’. If you notice, the show was away for seven years and the launch is on the eighth. Those numbers ... don’t play with them. God will beat yuh.”

In the Bible, seven symbolises completion and is a pervasive pattern throughout the good book; eight signifies a new beginning, and is a number of hope, new horizons and bright future.

Laing added, “I am joyful because I know that I am going to let some people mek some money. A lot of young people are going to make money to help dem parents. Because that’s what Sting always does. The young artistes always plan to buy dem mother a house or something after Sting,” he shared, even as he highlighted the reason for this year’s line-up which is festive with young acts rather than veterans.

He noted that all the current hot acts have never performed on Sting, traditionally known as the best testing ground for up-and-coming artistes.

“Yes, we gone young for this year because for seven years the show never keep and there are so many artistes who have never graced Sting stage. I think it’s about five per cent of the artistes working this year who have ever been on Sting. All of the young, hot artistes just came between the last two, three years. Jahshii is 21, Skeng is 21. They are youth, they just need guidance,” Laing declared.

His sentiments were confirmed by his Supreme Promotions Ltd business partner, Junior ‘Heavy D’ Fraser, who continuously bats for dancehall and its adherents.

“Look at how Valiant delivered himself,” Heavy D boasted. “We told them that we wanted two artistes – one male and one female – to represent at the launch and they all said for the male it should be Valiant and Pamputtae for the females. And they did well.”

In fact, Valiant, who is enjoying massive appeal with his songs such as North Carolina and St Mary and a slang which has gone viral on TikTok, made good use of his few minutes on stage Tuesday night. His stint could definitely be called one of the high points of Sting launch. Asking his fans to “see with [him]” because he was a bit nervous, he immediately gave them what they wanted – his viral slang “kotch e hat a lie, rich a lie”. He articulated well and spoke of his pleasure at being on Sting 2022 and noted that it has been “an amazing three months”.

Prior to Valiant, several sponsors, including Wisynco, Wi Pay, Worthy Park and Swift Rent a Car, took to the stage to share why Sting was their show of choice for December 2022. Guest speaker Clyde McKenzie went into details about the history of Sting and praised the artistes for taking the music across the globe. He gave an example of going to the land of soca, Trinindad, and hearing nothing but reggae and dancehall, but lamented that “there were no Jamaican products on the shelves”.

Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange commented on the huge turnout for the launch and commended the sponsors, the artistes and the Supreme team.

“If yuh want to find somebody who have perseverance and faith and hope and determination yuh see somebody name Laing and yuh have to applaud him. Yuh have to big up Laing because Laing has been at the centre of Sting. I want to thank all those who have come on board to make Sting happen again and all those who have stuck it out over the years. As we continue the yearlong celebration of Jamaica’s 60th anniversary, I want to salute the brands and events which have made their mark on Jamaica’s entertainment landscape,” she said.

Grange added, “From I see certain individuals, I know that Sting sell off already.”

Hosts of the evening were the delightful Camalla LaTouche and Renee Moncrieffe.

yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com