Summerjam 2014: we were there!

On Friday we were immediately pleasantly surprised by Gappy Ranks. We spent the remainder of the first day entirely in front of the Green Stage, where we also witnessed Stylo G and Wailing Trees, but it was Naâman who impressed us most of all.

Every festival likes to close the day with headliners on all the different stages, so as a punter you're sometimes forced to make difficult choices. The glorious performance of Tanya Stephens a few years ago was still very much on our minds, so we chose to go and see her again on the Green Stage. We weren't disappointed because she delivered in style with a rousing show. Afterwards, we danced our way out of the festival ground, to go to an after party, a fifteen-minute walk away and that was perhaps the only downside about the whole festival.

On Saturday, unfortunately,  the weather gods threw a spanner in the works. Lots of rainfall, but luckily the temperature was still nice. Sometimes rain can also inspire artists. Meta & The Cornerstones  gave an excellent concert that, in our view, could just as well have been the closer of the day. Heavenly!

Earlier we had seen Milky Chance on the Red Stage, but sadly, they didn't quite get the audience moving until the well-known sounds of 'Stolen Dance' resounded across the meadow.

At the same time, on the Green Stage, the crowd did go wild during the performance of The Skints, ska, rocksteady and early reggae from London Town. In August they will make their presence felt at the Antilliaanse Feesten. The second big surprise of the day, beside Meta & The Cornerstones, was Chinese Men. A quality gig with a mixture of reggae, dub, hip hop and d'n'b, including horns and rappers. They confirmed everything we had seen at Couleur Café.

After an overdose of new discoveries it was time for an established name: Dub Inc. They didn't let us down. After this concert the rain started pouring down again and we could rest our tired legs for a while. In the evening we went down to the dancehall tent and carried on partying until the early hours.

Sunday, the last day of Summerjam, started with a very rhythmical concert by  Raging Fyah (also at Reggae Geel). Again we had to make some tough choices, so, for once, we passed up on Johnny Osbourne and instead opted for Dilated Peoples (also at Couleur Café). They proved once again that hip hop is not out of place at a reggae festival.

Tryo managed to keep hold of the exuberant atmosphere that Dilated Peoples had created and the crowd just kept on dancing. Jimmy Cliff, one of the reggae greats, had no trouble tuning into these blissful vibes. It was an absolute privilege to see an elderly artist give everything he's got on stage. It was one of the best closing acts we've ever seen and we're already looking very much forward to next year's Summerjam line-up.