REGGAE SUNDANCE 2014: high and low points

FRIDAY: How, What, Where?

For its fifteenth jubilee year Reggae Sundance has moved from the E3 Beach in Eersel to Landgoed Velder in Liempde. Whereas the signposting outside the festival grounds is really professional , the site itself leaves a lot to be desired, making us lose our way more than once. And we're certainly not the only ones!

Unfortunately, the rest of the evening doesn't get much better. When we finally find our way to The Yard, Danny Pepperseed and his Ovadose Movement have already started their set. To our amazement a big part of the tent in front of the stage has been closed off because rainwater keeps streaming in with the bucketload. Only few people have turned up on this Friday evening and for once the absentees seem to be right.

Mr. Williamz doesn't really do it for us with his rather monotonous flow, but then it's time for the main event: veteran DJs Trinity and Dillinger!

First up is Trinity, who starts his set with the enthusiasm of somebody with ADHD on speed and soon ends up in the middle of the audience (as it was customary in Jamaica in those days). We recognise 'Jesus Dread' and 'Samson The Strongest Man', tunes he recorded for the legendary Yabby You, and later also 'John Saw Them Coming' (on the Hypocrites riddim), megahit 'Three Piece Suit' and 'All Gone', but before we realise it, Trinity has already left the stage.

Sadly, Dillinger doesn't improve matters one bit. He seems to be hammered (later this is confirmed to be true) and opens with 'Natty Ten To One', followed by 'Natty Kung Fu', predictably including a few karate poses. The set is further made up of tunes like 'Tribal War', 'I Saw E Saw' and the inevitable closer 'Cokane In My Brain'. There's no coherence whatsoever to his performance and we decide to go home disappointed and hoping for a better Saturday.

SATURDAY: Sunshine Reggae

When we enter the grounds on Saturday, all is still very quiet. A small group of people has gathered in front of the main stage and Iba Mahr turns out to be the perfect opener for the second festival day. The atmosphere is cosy and when Iba rolls up his trouser legs and unbuttons his shirt to reveal checked socks and a string vest ("mesh marina"), the fans know what time it is: time for 'Diamond Sox' and so the pull-up is unavoidable. After an encore Mutabaruka announces Kabaka Pyramid. Just like Iba he's backed by The Bebble Rockers, a decent band, but the keyboard player doesn't always deliver and they aren't as tight as can be. Kabaka is in great form, though, and lifts the show a tad higher with his energetic toasting style and hiphop influences. He performs a stream of hits that are all recognised by the crowd, and tracks like 'Foundation' and 'Warrior' are warmly received. With 'Get You' and 'Pretty Like A Flower' the rastaman also gives the ladies in the audience a special treat, something they greatly appreciate.

Romain Virgo performs in The Yard, the covered stage where the wet warm-up was held on Friday. Luckily it's a lot drier today. We enter the tent on the tones of 'Who Feels It Knows It'. The band plays incredibly tight and Romain surrenders entirely to the crowd. He has a lot of success with tunes like 'Mi Caan Sleep' and 'Taking You Home'. Unfortunately the sound in the tent is substandard. There's a bit of improvement towards the end of the show, but it never gets to an acceptable level.

Then follows a first highlight: the set of veteran DJ Big Youth, who performs a lot better than his buddies on Friday. Mutabaruka heralds him with the words "This man no grow old!" and we can only agree. Despite his age – he's 65 – he's still as fit as a fiddle and keeps hopping across the stage, using a lot of humour and alternating between singing, rapping and shrieking. Big Youth's set list hasn't changed a bit in the last decade, but nevertheless we fully enjoy a hit marathon with cracking tunes like 'Every Nigger Is A Star', 'Give Praises' (on the Satta riddim), 'Ten Against One' 'Green Bay Killing' and 'S.90 Skank'. He proves that he's still in tune with current affairs when he asks for a minute's silence for the victims of Flight MH17 of Malaysia Airlines, the plane that was recently brought down in Ukraine. Among the musicians we recognise saxophonist Dean Fraser and trombonist Nambo Robinson, both of who will turn up on stage a number of times this weekend. As usual Big Youth ends his set with 'Hit The Road, Jack', which for the occasion flows smoothly into Bob Marley's 'Chant Down Babylon' and Peter Tosh's 'Glass House', leaving us fully satisfied.

Then we head for The Yard again, for I-Octane. There's no sign anymore of the little accident he had at Reggae Geel. The previous weekend he was still walking around with his arm in a sling (he had a dislocated shoulder), but now he's flailing his arms around, even jumping into the crowd for a selfie. There's a lot of ambience in the tent while he's working his way through his greatest hits: 'Love Di Vibes', 'L.O.V.E.Y.O.U.', 'Wine And Jiggle', 'Suffer Too Long'. There's a real chemistry with the audience. Regrettably, the sound in the tent once more leaves a lot to be desired, somewhat overshadowing the great show put on by I-Octane and the Conquer The Globe Band.

Dub Inc. are the first band to get the whole crowd jumping. Bouchkour and Komian are in their element and that clearly works contagiously. Although Dub Inc. aren't that famous around here and singing along with the French lyrics isn't so obvious for a primarily Dutch audience, the tight band manage to get the crowd going into a frenzy.

Since we already saw Beenie Man perform live at Reggae Geel, we decide to enjoy the peace and quiet of the food stands to grab a bite to eat.

Midnite are another band we already witnessed at Reggae Geel, so we only watch them perform the first few tunes of their set at Reggae Sundance. The band from the Virgin Islands are programmed a bit later than in Geel and we've never known them to perform under par. Vaughn Benjamin is prophesying as usual, flanked by his ever smiling brother Ron on bass, and the Sundance crowd undeniably enjoys their spiritual vibes.

After a long break comes the moment we've all been waiting for: The Royal Symphony Of Reggae, a special project to celebrate 15 years of Reggae Sundance. The stage is filled with little chairs and one by one the forty-something musicians of the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra appear – strings, horns, harp and grand piano. The orchestra is backed up by the Skool Band, including Dean Fraser and Nambo Robinson. Peter Ashbourne, the Jamaican composer, musician and director, who prepared the arrangements for all the instruments, also directs the show.

Opener is a quick rendition of the theme tune of the western classic 'The Magnificent Seven' (John Sturges, 1960) and when Sir John Holt appears on stage, the magic is complete. John Holt performs virtually each year with this orchestra in the UK and is obviously enjoying the occasion. The strings are a lovely addition to the both fragile and firm voice of the lovers and rock steady veteran. Never before have we heard such a moving version of 'A Love I Can Feel'. One by one the well-known classics come by. It's almost impossible to choose a favourite among 'Help Me Make It Through The Night', 'Ali Baba', 'The Tide Is High' and 'If I Were A Carpenter', but if we really had to make a choice, we'd go for the innocent Paragons nostalgia of 'On The Beach'. We are disappointed when John Holt already leaves the stage after barely half an hour. As far as we're concerned, this part of the show should have lasted twice as long. If you're really into this, we can highly recommend the DVD 'John Holt In Symphony'.

Then it's Luciano's turn to test the orchestra. In between the somersaults and flick flacks he also finds some time to sing a bit. 'Give Praise', 'Who Could It Be', 'Sweep Over My Soul' and 'Over The Hills' all feature and the atmosphere on stage is perfect. The Messenjah is pleased as Punch and there are multiple big-ups to director, band and orchestra. It's a pity that his voice is a bit hoarse and his improvisations sometimes confuse the orchestra. For John Holt the orchestra was the perfect accompaniment, whereas with Luciano we sometimes get a bit of a Night Of The Proms feeling ('Knocking On Heaven's Door').

Finally UB40 come on stage, with the original and now reunited singers Ali Campbell and Astro Wilson. Why they deem it necessary to play a separate and much too long intro, is a big mystery to us, but eventually we hear 'Ivory Madonna'. Dennis Brown's 'Silhouette' sounds gorgeous with the full sound of the orchestra, but of course the crowd is waiting for 'Red Red Wine' (including some toasting by Astro), 'Rat In Mi Kitchen' and 'Kingston Town'. The crowd is enthusiastic, but in fact there's more filming than dancing going on and occasionally we get that Sportpaleis feeling again. Neither Luciano nor UB40 can emulate the magic of John Holt's (much shorter) set, but all in all this is a very special and unique experience. On the tones of 'Falling In Love' we walk back to the parking lot, because tomorrow we have to be on site early again.

SUNDAY: Reggae Raindance

When we arrive back in Liempde, Derajah has already started his set. We saw him a couple of weeks ago at Irie Vibes, backed by the French Moon Band. Now trusted UK veterans Mafia & Fluxy back him up and he sounds a lot better for it. This time we can really enjoy tracks like 'Oh Yeah Ya' and 'My Sister' from his debut album 'Paris Is Burning'. Derajah is part of the so-called Rockers International Showcase and has to make room fairly soon for Earl Sixteen. Though we saw the latter perform countless times in the past couple of years, his voice keeps charming us, and in combination with Mafia & Fluxy this makes for a very tight set. We hear tunes like 'Reggae Technology' from his 'Reggae Ambassador' album, the Lee Perry classic 'Freedom' and a cover of Hugh Mundell's 'Stop'em Jah'. Addis Pablo pops up a few times in the Derajah and Earl Sixteen sets, but the last part of this showcase is entirely reserved for his melodica. Together with a few songs of his own , Addis also pays tribute to his dad Augustus Pablo, so we get served versions of 'Ancient Harmonies' and 'Java'. It seems quite early, but we've just experienced a first highlight of this Sunday.

We already saw Dre Island at work at Reggae Geel, so during his set we take the opportunity to have a bit of lunch.

Although Tanya Stephens's set has barely changed in the last couple of years, it's always a pleasure to see this lady perform. Thanks to her level-headed view of reality, her speeches in between songs are always fascinating to hear. She always kicks off with 'Way Back' and then goes on, in chronological order, with her 1995 hit 'Yuh Nah Ready Fi Dis Yet' on the Joyride riddim. When introducing 'Boom Wuk', she still makes the same joke about the "long ding dong". Perhaps she should change that now, because it's slightly past its sell-by date. Tanya doesn't have any trouble at all to get the crowd going and there's an unmistakable chemistry. When she sings 'Can't Breathe', a first rain shower hits us and the brolleys go up. Tanya gets offered a floral wreath from somebody in the audience ("I look so innocent now") and she wears it throughout the rest of her show. Beside her favourite subject, relationship problems, she also tackles a few more serious topics in 'Do You Still Care' and 'Oh What A Day', and with '140 Lbs Of Love' she also performs something more recent. Just when Tanya wants to introduce her band, the stage manager stops her, so she suitably ends her set with 'It's A Pity' in front of a raucous crowd. Mutabaruka then informs us that this final track is actually about him and that Tanya always dedicates it to him: "Nah come a Europe fi buss out mi secret!". So that's also cleared up now.

The next act on the main stage is Busy Signal. It strikes us that there's not really a big crowd today, especially if you consider the wealth of big names on the bill . Could that have anything to do with the weather forecasts? It's a day on which the weather changes every 10 seconds, leaving you either too hot or too cold. Busy doesn't care about these weather conditions or the poor attendance, though, and just goes for it. The audience hops along to 'Hustling', 'Nah Go A Jail', 'Bedroom Bully' and 'Pon Di Edge'. Then it's time for the slower numbers with sing-alongs like 'Reggae Music Again', '1 More Night' and 'Come Over'. Meanwhile it's started raining again but Busy puts it into perspective for us: "Sundance is nice, even when it tun raindance, just as long as it doesn't tun paindance!" Obviously he can't foresee what's still awaiting us, because then it starts raining like hell in Liempde. The cloudburst and hurricane leave their marks in a big way: The Yard is evacuated and the further programmation is suspended. Most people flee towards whatever shelter they can find, but a small group of fans brave the elements to watch Busy sing 'Bumaye'.

We're slightly hypothermic, so we decide to let most of Alborosie's set pass us by to go and look for somewhere drier and warmer. However, that doesn't turn out to be a bright decision either, because as soon as we're enjoying a quick snack in a makeshift tent, it collapses. Luckily we get away with just a few scratches.

When Tarrus Riley hits the stage, we're back on track. Tarrus has brought along a surprise act, Alaine (who will later on in the set wow the audience with her hit 'No Ordinary Love'), and treats us to a whole bunch of hits: 'Getty Getty No Wantee', 'Human Nature', 'Love's Contagious', 'Beware', 'Start A New'. 'Contagious' is a first highlight, immediately followed by 'Rebel', his take on the Skateland Killer riddim. Tarrus ends his set with three cracking songs: first the indestructible 'She's Royal', followed by 'Good Girl Gone Bad' and finally 'Gimme Lickle One Drop'.

By the time Shaggy starts his set, we've had our fill. It's become really cold and on the tones of 'Boombastic' and 'Angel' we leave the grounds, not sure if we'll be able to get our car out of the parking lot which has by now transformed into one giant swamp. We're in luck but other vehicles are stuck deep in the mud and have to wait for a local tractor to come and pull them out. We wonder if Shaggy has performed 'Rain (In My Mind'), his duet with Heather Headley. It would definitely have been appropriate.