For a moment, some in the audience thought Prime Minister Phillip J. Pierre would break into song after his playful shout, “Woy, look at people” before addressing the audience at Marchand, half-jokingly referring to the area as the capital of Castries.
The occasion was the opening of the 2025 Saint Lucia Jazz & Arts Festival and indeed, it was a massive crowd, well over 9,000, who turned out for the start of the 12-day event.
Judging by the numbers and overall audience satisfaction, the event was a slam dunk.
Held at the Mindoo Phillip Park in Marchand, patrons started trickling in at about 8 p.m. One hour later, the lines had backed into the streets even as the first act was on stage.
LM Stone Band, a Saint Lucian outfit well known for their country music repertoire had the audience singing and dancing to popular covers. The group was met with resounding applause as they exited the stage.
Even as patrons continued to stream in, they paused to capture the décor, memorialising the park’s transformation into a festive wonderland through countless photos.
While the band for the next act was setting up, JH and MC Dhallo entertained.
The second performer country singer/songwriter, Gretchen Wilson, was one of the most highly anticipated performers on the strength of two of her more than a decade-old songs Salt on Your Glass and The Girl I am. However, halfway through her set – a blend of modern country and rock – the audience showed signs of restlessness, as they had not heard their favourites. The chants were loud enough for the singer to acknowledge by doing a stripped version of Salt on Your Glass which the audience gladly sang along to. Wilson then dived straight back into her set, charging through unfamiliar new material, but in the end, the audience was left unimpressed.
One thing became crystal clear; Saint Lucians don’t just like country music. They crave old-school music and nothing else.
To satisfy the audience’s unfulfilled appetite for country classics, a female Saint Lucian singer was brought on to deliver a few covers.
DJ Hollywood HP was up next, and he set the pace for the next act, Sizzla Kalonji of Jamaica.
It has been eight years since the Reggae singer was here last and it was worth the wait. With his full band and backup singers in tow, Sizzla belted out some of his biggest hits, with fans singing along to every word.
The vintage hits flowed like they were freshly minted:- Good Ways, Rastaman Chant, Simplicity, Black Woman and Child, They Ain’t Gonna See Us Fall, Thank You Mama, Dry Cry and many others. Sizzla delivered an enjoyable and engaging hour-long performance.
A1 Jugglers ensured that the audience remained fired up as the lone remaining set got ready for the stage.
Despite the event running behind schedule, Saint Lucian band DYP exploded onto the stage as the closing act, unleashing crowd-pleasing soca anthems. Even as the clock crept past 2 a.m., most stayed for the party segment lapping up the soca, Dennery segment, bouyon and a little Lucian reggae on offer.
Backed by the band, Lady Lava delivered a performance that had the women in the crowd cheering, while new-age bouyon stars Trilla G, Nyce, and Poodaz ignited the younger fans.
Among the highlights on the Saint Lucian end were Alley Kyat from Vieux Fort and General Bakes of Micoud who was joined by his son on stage. Tracks like Sept Jour (Seven Days) and Bodah Backs really turned things up.
The lineup also included performances from Zionomi, Dezral, Umpa, Shemmy J, Nerdy, and Ezra. But as the night stretched past its extended 3:30 a.m. cutoff, the band’s failure to keep their set tighter forced the closing acts to rush through their sets, amid warnings from the police.
Ezra’s Beyoutiful finally brought the show to a close around 3:45 a.m., though the festival’s signature fireworks finale had already lit up the sky an hour earlier.
Still, the opening night was a roaring success, especially for concessionaires, who battled nonstop demand all evening. And while the country music experiment fell flat, that misstep may already be forgotten as Saint Lucians and thousands of visitors gear up for the next Jazz Festival highlights.
