Raggamuffin 2010, Saturday 23 January 2010 @ Rotorua International Stadium
After an early morning trip to a lovely local bottle store I eventually
arrived at Raggamugffin about halfway through Katchafire's set. The line-up went:
Sweet & Irie: 11:45 -12:15
House of Shem: 12:35 - 1:05
Sola Rosa: 1:25 - 1:55
Katchafire: 2:15 - 2:45
Sean Kingston: 3:05 - 3:35
Julian Marley: 4:05 - 4:50
Steel Pulse: 5:20 - 6:20
Sly & Robbie: 6:50 - 7:50
Ms Lauryn Hill: 8:20 - 9:05
Shaggy: 9:35 - 10:50
Being a first-time attendee of the festival, I checked out the stalls and shops then
ventured into the crowd for Sean Kingston's set. I'm still not quite
sure how or why but I enjoyed his set even though I don't really enjoy his
'hit' songs which he played. DJ Nasty (Sean Kingston's official DJ
apparently) did a good job and hyped the crowd on the mic.
I
was really impressed with Julian Marley and went as close as I could to
the stage, right up to the front and side. A few people commented that his
sound was bad but I didn't personally notice anything. Unforntally I missed alot
of Steel Pulse's set, but from what I did see I was impressed and
honoured to see one of the worlds' most influential reggae bands.
Sly
& Robbie took the pace down a bit but they were super tight as you would expect. By the time Lauryn Hill got to the stage energy-wise the crowd really needed to be picked up and that's exactly what she did. She put on a brilliant performance clearing showing that she is a veteran. My favorite tune was Lost Ones - it was wicked to see a tight band
perform a good one-drop session that had the crowd jumping around. It
was such a pity that she only played for thirty minutes!
What to say about
Shaggy - the first half of his performance I really enjoyed but I feel
in the second half he got on his 'mista lover lover' tip a bit much for me
(and some of my female friend were disgusted with some of the things
he was saying). But as an entertainer he certainly brought his A-game.
I really enjoyed the Raggamuffin festival - improvements for next time
would be having DJ's & MC's playing between band sets and not having to
buy Raggamuffin money to buy drinks (because I only had $10 left over after the
festival). But it was an awesome day, the people were irie, the bands
were tight, the sun shined, and it was awesome to hear that Raggamuffin
gave $$8300 for Haiti relief fund - $6250 was via online donations for
the Samoan relief fund showing true reggae spirit and that Raggamuffin
is not just a commercial affair.
Bless up everyone involved and see you
next year!
Hawk i
Comments
Do we get photo captions Mista Hawk I? Wicked write up by the way.
sure acro left to right
stage from sound desk, Sean Kingston & dj Nasty, Julian Marly and that one on the end is me:)
David 'Dread' Hinds, Selwyn 'Bumbo' Brown & Steel Pulse, Julian 'JuJu' Marley and Sly & Robbie stole the show for us. Now that's roots reggae! But unfortunately most of NZ Raggaz fanz are thirst for commercialism. "Natty don't want to hear no follyism up on the reggae riddim".... Nuff said.
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