Summerjam 2014: Even the rain could not out the flame of Reggae music in Germany
The 29th edition of the Summerjam Festival took place from Friday 4th, July until Sunday, 6th of July 2014. The weather was quite rough, cloudy and rainy yet the many Reggae lovers who attended the festival were not demotivated and remained very dynamic until the end!
Day 1
On Friday, the very first day, the Wailing Trees, winner of the European Reggae Contest, kicked off the show on the Red Stage, one of the two biggest stages of the festival. Then, Reggae sensation of the year, Randy Valentine, performed before leaving the stage to UK-based artists Stylo G and Gappy Ranks. An energetic Stylo G blasted hit after hit for the greatest delight of his audience including: “Move Back”, the catchy “More Ganja”, “Sound Bwoy”, and of course “Call Me a Yardie” and “Bad”. Gappy Ranks’s perfomance was as delightful yet more laid-back, promoting the tracks of his album “Shining Hope”.Culturally-speaking, The Summerjam is a melting pot. The artists and public come from all over the world to gather in the very same place for the love of Reggae music. After a british-oriented introduction, we now welcome french artist Naâman. Followed by Jamaican Reggae singer Chris Martin, who will produce one of the greatest performances of the festival, hands down, with his splendid voice, an impeccable show and a load of big tunes! The beautiful Tanya Stephens comes right after him and delivers the brand-new tracks of her album “Guilty” interlaced with timeless classics such as “It’s a Pity”, on which she closes on a beautiful day of concerts. For the insatiable music lovers, the party went on all night long on the Dancehall Arena with relentless sound systems Jugglerz and Pow Pow Movement.
Day 2
The second day of the festival started with an appearance of Iba Mahr, backed up by the excellent Dubtonic Kru. From “Wait In Vain” to “Praise HIM” including the big tune “Diamond Sox”, Iba Mahr easily convinced the audience. At 7:00 pm, Perfect and Lutan Fyah shared the same stage, accompanied by french musicians Dub Akom. Both bobo rasta artists delivered plenty of new roots hits. Then they invited Iba Mahr to come back on stage in order to perform ‘Jah Lead The Way’. The final was just magic.
In the keeping with the same style, Jah 9 followed by Kabaka Pyramid performed next. Kabaka stood out from the crowd as he displayed a lot of energy while performing and sung consciously aware tracks like ‘No Capitalist’ and ‘Worldwide Love’. On the big stage, the well renowned Dub Inc, carries out a good show. Later on, we switched to Dancehall with Konshens who was able to manage the crowd hit after hit despite the rain and technical issues.Now tell me: Could you have thought of anyone else better than Anthony B and Seed to bring this evening to a wonderful close? Maybe you couldn’t either… but if it was the case, just admit you cannot deny that Anthony B‘s performance on the Green Stage was very neat. Then, if you were not tired enough yet after of all this, you could have joined Supersonic and Sentinel at the Dancehall Arena for an extra dosage of music.
Day 3
Sunday was the last day but not the least. The rain was still pouring but the smiles on the faces of the Reggae massives, under their umbrellas, had not faded. Everybody was happy at the Summerjam! When we arrived, in the middle of the afternoon, veteran Reggae artist Johnny Osbourne had already set the atmosphere proper. Barrington Levy cheered on the public, who braved the rain and was driven by his hits, claiming “The rain is a blessing!”. It’s always a great pleasure and very heartwarming to hear him lengthily deploying his famous gimmicks. A real legend!Then Nneka and Jimmy Cliff respectively wrapped up the festival on each stage. While the beautiful singer’s voice resonated on the impressing Green Stage, Jimmy Cliff, who was performing on the great stage, had to keep the audience rocking to Reggae music for a little longer before they run to their warm shelters. The concert ended up with an awesome fireworks display, which got everybody looking up to sky. A beautiful grand finale. There is one thing we are sure of : we will be back next year.
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