Protoje makes up for lost year with two-day festival

This year marks the return of the highly anticipated Lost in Time Festival, which had its inaugural staging in 2023. Lost in Time, which is co-produced by reggae star, Protoje, will be returning as a two-day event on February 28 and March 1.

“One of the main reasons we were pushing to have the festival take on a two-day format was the fact that it didn’t happen last year,” Protoje said during the launch of the event at the AC Hotel Kingston on Thursday night. “We don’t want it to be like one big day where the crowd is too large, so we wanted to place the acts on different nights and just spread the vibes between the two days.”

With Protoje at the helm of the musical section of the festival, the line-up of performers was expected to be nothing short of reggae music royalty. As such, performing a full set in Jamaica for the first time in seven years is Chronixx, who leads day two of the festival, while Protoje will head night one. In addition to the headliners, fans will also be treated to the likes of reggae legend Tanya Stephens, Mortimer, Tessanne Chin, Naomi Cowan, D’Yani and fresh off their Grammy nominations, Lila Ike and Jesse Royal.

Speaking of the Small Axe, the entertainer was all smiles during the festival’s launch as he brimmed with pride and excitement for where the event was going.

“I’m feeling excited about the launch and the festival overall. This is an incredible line-up and staging and is a carefully crafted event for the fans. This is an event that is literally geared around how to give people the best experience possible at reggae event,” Jesse Royal told The Gleaner.

“And Jamaican people deserve this kind of experience more than anyone else in the world. They deserve an experience of a high level just for their respect, their support and their energy and their roots that we use to make us who we are,” he added.

The Lost in Time Festival, for its third staging, returns to Hope Gardens in St Andrew, a venue which has had both its positive and negatives in the past. During the event’s last staging, tensions brewed over the event end times, leading to the intervention of the police and the show’s abrupt ending. At the time, Protoje sent a message to the government. “Mek sure the government know we need reggae music fi play inna Kingston,” he said before storming off stage.

The government in 2024 announced the rollout of 24/7 entertainment spaces meant to accommodate events such as the Lost in Time Festival. Entertainment Minister Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange, who brought greetings at Thursday’s launch, gave The Gleaner an update on the status of these spaces.

“We are working hard to roll out the entertainment zones, and to sign up on entertainment spaces, bearing in mind the issues that impact various communities across Jamaica in terms noise abatement. However, we are not treating entertainment or music as noise,” Minister Grange said.

“In the meantime, we have a better understanding with the police. Where there are no issues, I recommend the extension, I request the extension, and they approve. And that has been working very, very well right across Jamaica. And we continue to monitor these events by using the permits issued by the municipalities, and by the police. That has helped us to keep a very accurate data of number of events, parish by parish,” the minister added.

kenrick.morgan@gleanerjm.com