Another great sold out show for the Cali massive! This one in Long Beach with the mighty Queen Mary looking on. There seems to be a format for shows like this. A formula. And there is no denying it…it’s working. Gather great headliners that California fans can’t get enough of. Stack it even deeper with local favorites and music legends… artists who themselves are headliners. Bring in some of the best lighting and staging talent around. Et voila! You’ve got a show no one wants to miss. And this one was no exception.

The music talent list was long and varied. A flavor for all. Rebelution, Stick Figure, Tribal Seeds, Pepper, Slightly Stoopid, Iration, J Boog…all the headliners Cali fans love to see. But there werealso artists like Don Carlos (together with fellow roots legends Tony Chin and Fully Fullwood by the way), Grammy Award winners Morgan Heritage, Lee Scratch Perry, Yellowman, Pato Banton, Nattali Rize, Matisyahu…we’re talking CRUCIAL acts. And by the way don’t forget we also had local Cali favorites like GROUNDATION, The Expanders, Long Beach Dub All Stars, Arise Roots, Mystic Roots… the list went on and on. Every day was stacked. So stacked, in fact, there was little room for encore’s or extended sets. No matter how much we all wanted Don Carlos to keep going!

But don’t get it twisted. There were certainly snags. Every show has some. February in a surprisingly wet Californiarain season was tricky for an outside venue. Sound glitches also snuck in here and there early on. But they got it sorted quickly and the crowd just laughed it off.This was a pro crew running this event and any issues were handled swiftly.

Everywhere you looked were happy reggae fans having a blast and mashing it up. The artistswere killing it on stage. Energy was off the charts. The crowds had some great food and drink to enjoy. It all worked togetherfor another amazing event. Good work guys. The best compliment I can think of are these 5 words…We’ll see you next year!

Photos By Eye Ree