Priced at an economical $5.55USD per act, the St. Kitts Music Festival allows concert attendees to see world class artists at an affordable rate. General admission for each night of the festival was priced at $50USD or $135XCD per ticket. Truly a steal if you ask me.
Night 1
Affectionally dubbed “soca night” set the tone of the St. Kitts Music Festival with high energy performance. What better way to start off the festival than with the high energy man himself, Rucas H.E. (H.E for high energy), starting off the show with the right amount of energy.
Small Axe Band followed Rucas´ act and gave the pussy some more whiskey. Iykyk 🤣 It’s safe to say that plenty bottoms were in de road. Small Axe Band is one of the local bands of St. Kitts and Nevis who’s music form is that of “Wilders.” Wilders music is a very high tempo form of soca music. There are several bands in St. Kitts and Nevis that play this genre of music.
Another local band specializing in Wilders, Grand Masters Band played right after Small Axe Band. Locally, the Grand Masters Band is also known as “de horny band.” Their performance of hits like “don’t cut no style” and “lift off de stress” had the crowd going.
Lyrikal then took us to a happy place in our lives and reminded us that we shouldn’t be told we can’t play mas. There’s something about seeing a Trinidadian wave the St. Kitts and Nevis flag that is just *chefs kiss* and Lyrikal did just that.
Nadia Batson had us screaming “so long I ain see yuh” and realizing it was truly a long time since we’ve been able to enjoy experiences like this. Nadia’s energy and charisma on stage was truly infectious and had the crowd going. It’s also important to highlight that her band is predominately made up of women! They go by the name of SASS!
Voice, a three time winning International Soca Monarch King from Trinidad and Tobago took over the stage and had us screaming ¨Dear Promoter.¨ Voice swayed the crowed with his amazing energy on stage reminding us that from we wake up in the morning, we are winners. His performance was surely one of a winner.
After Voice, we took a break and updated from jumping up to high energy soca performances to vibe out to some dancehall hits by Masicka.
We resumed Soca night with the queen of bacchanal herself, Destra. The tone was already in the morning’s press conference where Destra told the viewing audience that she was ready to “.” The crowd got looser than Lucy to some of her old and new hits like “Max It Up” and “Dip n’ Ride.”
The ViKing and ViQueen followed Destra’s energy with a synergized performance. Bunji Garlin and Fay-Ann Lyons performed some of their hits including “Famalay,” “Girls,” and “Big Bad Soca.” Bunji and Fay-Ann mentor a young soca artist from Barbados named Tarique O’Neal-Griffith. Tarique was a winner of the 2022 Baje to the World. As a part of the post-show mentorship, Tarique performed as the opening act at the St. Kitts Music Festival for Bunji and Fay-Ann.
St. Kitts Music Festival Night 1 ended off in the sweetest way possible with local band Nu Vybes, also known as the Sugar Band taking the show up into the wee hours of the morning.
Night 2
With Night 1 of the St. Kitts Music Festival already setting the tone for the Music Festival’s 26th year of existence. Dejour, a versatile artist from St. Kitts, started the night off wooing the crowd with some of his hits such as “Secret,” and “Outside.”
Hi-Light, another local artist from St. Kitts, surprised used during his act and had Infamus join him. If you know, you know. Having known the history between the two artists, it was a beautiful sight to see the two hug it out on stage. The crowd knew Hi-Light’s “Unstoppable” word for word. I’ll admit that Unstoppable has got to be a local tune that I don’t think I’ll ever not get hyped up hearing.
Keeping in line with the homegrown talent, I-Mark graced the stage next and had Dejour join him. I-Mark’s performance included a personal favorite of mine, “Tun It Up A Notch.” And it’s just that I-Mark did, he really did tun it up a notch.
De real Top Gyal, Shaneil Muir, reminded the crowd not to “worry bout dem” because gyal “a real top gyal.” Hits like “Exclusive,” and “Yamabella” had the crowd completing Shaneil’s verses for her. Shaneil definitely showed St. Kitts Music Festival what real talent over hype looks like.
Maxi Priest then rocked us some reggae with hits like “Wild World,” and “Just A Little Bit Longer.” Maxi Priest made it so easy for the crowd to love him and his vibes.
Ashanti and her two dancers rocked us all night with some of our faves like “Rock Wit U,” and “Always On Time.” I honestly would love to see a collaboration in the near future with her and one of St. Kitts’ very own such as Dejour, similarly to the collaboration Ashanti did with Machel Montano for “The Road.”
I truly had a fan-girl moment during Wale’s performance. I’m just going to keep it real with y’all, Wale had your girl shook when he jumped off stage and walked through the media pit to get closer to the crowd.
The temperature was right and Sean Paul and had us ending off Night 2 burnin’ up. Sean Paul and his dancers kept things stemming with energetic performances to some of our faves like “Got 2 Luv U,” and “Get Busy.”
It’s safe to say Night 2 was extra hot and burnin’ up. I loved the lineup and the sequence of the performances.
Night 3
Night 3 was the grand finale we needed to wrap up the 2022 edition of the St. Kitts Music Festival.
Nevisian superstar, Venelle Powell graced the stage first for the third and final night of the St. Kitts Music Festival. She performed songs such as “With Me” and “Chasing Dreams” with another Nevisian, Eazi.
Another local favorite, Byron Messia had the crowd singing his song word for word. With hits like “Outcast” and “Toxic,” it only makes sense that Byron was recently signed to Prince Swanny’s record label.
Twinkle herself shined bright on the stage and wowed the crowd with her performance and how she worked the stage. Jada Kingdom performed favorites like “Tek It,” and “Heavy!” She clearly proved on staged that di ting did heavy!
Multi-talented actor and singer Rotimi gave us a flare of afrobeats. Rotimi’s “In My Bed” and “Love Riddim” were just some of his songs that were perfectly coupled with the sexiness he graced the staged with.
Mr. Big Deal, Christopher Martin, brought some melodious reggae to the scene and had us bussing blanks for our mommas. Christopher Martin’s performance was filled with so much enthusiastic energy!
Keyshia Cole followed after and simmered us down with some r&b hits like sent from heaven and love.
Beres Hammond had us remembering the songs that used to make us rock away. I won’t lie, his entire set had me reminiscing of days growing up in the Caribbean. Beres is truly iconic.
St. Kitts Music Festival signed off with a bang and fireworks at the end of Popcaan’s performance. Poppy blessed us with a surprise and brought Beres back out and they performed God is Love together. Popcaan’s high energy performance was the exact note we needed to end St. Kitts Musical Festival on!
Overall, I had an amazing time at the festival. It is amazing how many amazing performances are packed into each night for such an economically friendly price, all things considered. I can’t wait to see what the 2023 St. Kitts Music Festival has in store for us!
Everyting SimSimma 
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