‘Superb line-up’ for Rebel Salute
Event returns to one-day format after ‘strategic restructuring’
Tony Rebel, founder and chief organiser of Rebel Salute, says 2025 marks a turning point for the annual event which was first held in 1994. It reverts to the original one-day format, and ventures overseas for the first time.
Rebel Salute, which was launched at Jamaica Pegasus on December 19, returns to Plantation Cove in Priory, St Ann, on January 18. On April 20, it heads to Miramar in south Florida.
Next month’s show is sponsored by Supreme Ventures Limited.
Tony Rebel told the Jamaica Observer’s Splash that going back to one day, after 10 years as a two-day event, is “strategic restructuring”.
He promised that: “Fans can expect a superb, compact, wonderful show with a superb line-up who can ‘edutain’ yuh and make your musical greed be satisfied.”
Tony Rebel, Maxi Priest, Luciano, Jah Mason, Richie Spice, Queen Ifrica, Valiant, Louie Culture, Turbulence, Dawn Penn, Errol Dunkley, Echo Minott, and Leroy Gibbons are some of the acts confirmed for Rebel Salute 2025.
Three months later after the next staging, the show makes its overseas début in Miramar on a day known as 4/20, when the benefits of ganja are celebrated globally. That event’s line-up has not been confirmed but the organiser said he and his team have long thought about taking their brand abroad.
“Wi want to go other places, but we are not advanced with those aspects yet, but Florida is 4/20. Wi coming to Miramar on 4/20,” he shared.
Rebel Salute was first held on January 15 1994, Tony Rebel’s birthday, at Fayors Entertainment Complex in Mandeville, Manchester, his home parish. It was headlined by his close friend Garnet Silk, another Manchester native.
After six years, Rebel Salute moved to St Elizabeth, then to St Ann in 2013.
Its founder believes the change in location indicates progress.
“It shows we are not stagnant; we have mushroomed into something superb. Wherever di pendulum swings there’s where we go, but with original ideas,” he said.
Stefan Miller, senior vice-president, product management and business development at Supreme Ventures, and Metry Seaga, president of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, were speakers at last week’s launch.
