Island Stage - Reggae on the River Festival

Island Stage Magazine
By Island Stage Journalist- Hal Wendlinger
Big Youth, and U-Roy, all while being mixed by the
legendary Mad Professor. It is hard to remember a
live collaboration with more talent than their collective
performance. Friday night came to a close with Jamaican
dancehall star KRANIUM delivering an electric set that
will surely earn him an invitation back to the festival in the
coming years.
For those fortunate enough to make the journey to northern
California to witness the 32nd annual Reggae on the River
once again, a weekend full of wonderful Reggae music was
enjoyed by all. The festival continued with its four day format
to even better success than last year. I personally believed
much of that success can be attributed to well known acts
such as New Kingston and Protoje & The Indiggnation
Band performing on Thursday night. With the music and the
beautiful Eel river being the main attractions for most patrons,
the crafts and festival-eats were especially quality this year.
No matter someone’s dietary constraints, there were a wide
variety of food and drink options, all of which were delicious
and moderately priced for a festival.
Saturdays lineup was impressively deep; early in the
afternoon, the youthful No-Maddz showed that they truly
can hold their own at the premier festivals that California has
to offer. Their poetic lyrics brought fans in from the shaded
areas of the bowl to crowd the stage, despite temperatures
above 90 degrees. House of Shem was the next act;
exemplifying how borderless reggae music is, the group from
New Zealand delivered a powerful set with conscious lyrics
and classical reggae stylings. Fatoumata Diawara was my
personal highlight of the weekend. The songstress hailing
from western Africa left everything on the stage to the delight
of the afternoon crowd. With the sun down and the cold
breeze blowing in off the river, King Yellowman was just
what the crowd needed to get heated back up. Although he
is 60 years of age, Yellowman performs with endless energy
for the entirety of his set. It was especially memorable when
his daughter K’reema joined him on stage. I wouldn’t be
surprised at all to see K’reema on the stage performing by
herself in the coming years. The night wrapped up with the
biggest name of the festival Sizzla Kalonji & The Fire
House Band filling the venue to the limit with eager fans.
Sizzla hasn’t performed in the United States in many years
and the crowd eager for his top notch performance. They
were thrilled by his showmanship; and restarting his hit songs
several times to get the crowd as fired up as possible.
Keeping in tradition with past festivals, Thursday began with
an Opening Blessing paying respect to the indigenous people
of the area. As fans finished setting up their tents and getting
settled into the venue, they began trickling into the bowl area
as the sun fell below the mountains to the solid performance
of New Kingston Band. In all the years that the festival has
started on Thursday, I haven’t seen the crowd as packed
as it was when Protoje & The Indiggnation Band took the
stage. Delivering on his reputation for an incredible live show,
Protoje alternated between hits from his previous albums as
well as cuts from his new project ‘Royalty Free,’ leaving the
audience feeling dynamical from his high energy set.
Following the opening blessing Friday afternoon, those fans
who hadn’t purchased the four day pass, flooded the festival
in excitement for the weekends acts. One of the afternoons
earlier highlights was British dancehall star Gappy Ranks,
the evening crowd was enthralled by his charismatic approach
to his performance. Next on stage was one of my personal
favorites for the whole weekend, Jah9. With powerful vocals
and a roots vibe, Jah9 showed why she belongs in the
conversation as one of the best up and coming performers
in the business. A truly memorable set was to follow, Soul
Syndicate tore through a nearly 3 hour set being joined on
stage by Randy Valentine, Marty Dread, Earl Zero,
September/October 2016
Grammy-nominated Sister Carol controlled the stage Sunday
afternoon with her impressively deep catalog. With her
refined performance “Mother Culture”, she shared her cultural
songs to the delight of the audience. With his unique ability
to combine roots music with a modern touch and ability to
connect deeply to his fans, Jamaica’s Jesse Royal gave the
crowd a special and heartfelt performance.
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Island Stage Magazine
Fresh off the heels of a revolutionary performance at
Coachella; Kinshasa’s Mbongwana Star treated the crowd
to an authentic African rhythmic performance. Mbongwana
Star’s sound and visual stimulation captivated the audience,
many of which considered their performance the highlight of
the weekend. Fittingly closing the show was Reggae on the
River icon, Anthony B. Delivering nonstop energy from start
to finish of his set, Anthony B kept everyone moving while
delivering his conscious and thoughtful musical poetry to the
people. As the crowd lights turned on and the crew began to
take down the stage, I couldn’t help but wish that the next
performance I would see on this stage wasn’t in a years time.
Anthony B
© 2016 David Wendlinger
September/October 2016
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Protoje
© 2016 David Wendlinger
Gappy Ranks
© 2016 David Wendlinger
Jah 9
© 2016 David Wendlinger
Daddy U Roy
© 2016 David Wendlinger
Big Youth
© 2016 David Wendlinger
Fully Fullwood
© 2016 David Wendlinger
Tony Chin
© 2016 David Wendlinger
Kranium
© 2016 David Wendlinger
Sheldon Shepard - No Maddz
© 2016 David Wendlinger
House of Shem
© 2016 David Wendlinger
Fatoumata Diawara
© 2016 David Wendlinger
King Yellowman & his daughter K’reema
© 2016 David Wendlinger
Sizzla
© 2016 David Wendlinger
Sister Carol
© 2016 David Wendlinger
Jesse Royal
© 2016 David Wendlinger
Mbongwana Star
© 2016 David Wendlinger
Fyakin and Anthony B
© 2016 David Wendlinger