Reggae City @ Alfie Bird’s, 10th October 2015
What is the Soundtrack of Birmingham? This is a tough question as it is not often asked.
Reggae has had a long history of appreciation in Birmingham, with the settling of the Caribbean families in the city, who’s experience was marred by the cold welcome that they faced as migrants, from the far right during the 60’s. Fast forward to 10 years later and a band called Steele Pulse was ripping up the charts and playing World Tours. They were seen to entertain every, race, creed and kind even outselling Bob Marley and The Wailers at the time, helping to maintain the foundations laid by one of many iconic reggae bands, whilst also ushering through the next generation of Reggae stars.
It was a regular Saturday on the stretch of Digbeth, the usual brightly dressed characters heading for The Rainbow, but as soon as you spotted the Red, Gold and Green of some, you know where they were headed tonight. Alfie’s Bird and Reggae City pulled out all the stops to get the best emerging, established and veteran bands on the night, mixed with a combination of some of the best reggae playing on the infamous Creative Hertz sound.
From the emerging camp we have Lobster, a young band that has been making a lot of noise in Birmingham. They are the epitome of the collapse of the Genre culture we have become so use to raised on a healthy diet of the internet and many and varied musical influences. Living in a diverse society like Birmingham produces some fine young musicians. Lobster fuse an array of genres with ease, they find the tone, beat and entertain the crowd. Reggae was the order tonight and Lobster delivered on all fronts. All the other acts on the night gave a great account of themselves and maintained high, just in symbiosis of excellence were the DJ’s!
Birmingham and the West Midlands has one of the richest Reggae history in Contemporary British music history, that is at times severely under-acknowledged, but all on display tonight. The night well and truly belonged to Macka B, the Veteran Reggae artist from Wolverhampton. After 30 years of loyal service, he had more than enough material to keep the crowd jumping and pumping, for three nights never mind one, but for this special night we had the pleasure of his company.
The festival is curated and organised by Kambe Sustainable Events, the same people who run Shambala Festival, and word on the road is that Shamabala is one of the best festival you can attend for an authentic vibe, music and cultural experience. If Reggae City is anything to go by, on the last Bank Holiday weekend of August 2016, alive and in good health, Shambala will not be missing me!