After 11 years, the highly anticipated Rebel Salute stage show will only be held on one night, as opposed to the regular two nights which music lovers have grown accustomed to.

Conceptualiser Tony Rebel revealed to World A Reggae that the January 18, 2025 show will be headlined by Maxi Priest, Raheem “Valiant” Bowes, Richie Spice, Luciano, Queen Ifrica, and himself, and will be just as memorable as previous years.

“We have some plans to do some things in the middle of the year. So, because of that, we will make the announcement during the show (about the new plans),” he said in an interview, adding that the one-day festival will only be for 2025 and might extend to three days, subsequently.

Tony Rebel also said that the rest of the lineup will be announced at the event’s launch later this month. When quizzed about the acts that he scouts to be on the show, Tony said that only artistes with conscious, or clean music are allowed in keeping with its values.

“I always provide the young artists with a platform… all of them from Queen Ifrica, to Taurus Riley— all of them. But, they have to fit the criteria of Rebel Salute. I mean, if they fit the criteria they can always be on. Make sure you can motivate and uplift the people through good music. It’s clean music, and even if you do dirty music, you have to have a certain amount of clean music that you can perform a whole set at Rebel Salute. Even Bounty Killer, Beenie Man, and Mavado reached Rebel Salute, but, they did their clean side,” the promoter and artiste reasoned.

The event will feature its usual artisan and food village, and also have a cook-off during the day, prior to the start of the show.

By Kediesha Perry