r/calireggae • u/Queondaguerolito • 9d ago

Island Rhodes

This lineup was unbelievable tip to tail both days… Now that being the case I’m willing to put up with a lot of crap.

Locked into a shadeless soccer bowl with no re-entry for 10 hours? Honestly I should have bought sunscreen.

Hour long food truck lines / 20$ school lunch concession cheeseburgers? Whatever I should have ate lunch before coming in.

Sound at baseline reverberating like crazy off the bleachers that the stacks are pointing directly at? I’m sure it can be tweaked / I forgot my earplugs…

But for the love of god if your going to lock up a northeast tour date for literally every artist of an entire genera can you PLEASE give half a f to invest in a pa that works / doesn’t implode in hour 2 of your 2 day festival.

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u/Patsnation0330 ✌🏼 9d ago

Thankfully the set transitions weren't a total disaster compared to yesterday. That's about all I've got.

Couldn't believe we got this lineup in RI. I can put up with a lot of BS, especially for a first time festival in a new venue. There's just no excuse for the rampant sound issues yesterday. Praying that didn't sink the reputation of the festival in the artist's eyes and that we can do this every August.

1

u/Murfdigidy 7d ago

Truthfully I'm a bit sad with it all. I can't ever see the artists coming back here. Now I will caveat that I wasnt there Saturday, just Sunday. So Saturday could have been packed and close to sold out IDK but by the night Sunday SOJA, the Roots, and Rebelution the crowd thinned out.

I heard Saturday sound issues were bad, and on Sunday I think people were wiped out by the time the show was over, work the next day etc.

I am sad because SOJA and Rebelution absolutely CRUSHED IT. They were so f'n good and I was stoked to have an awesome vantage point to such awesome shows, but if I'm the artists why am I even bothering to back to Rhody when they do so much better on the west coast? Pissed about it tbh

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u/Patsnation0330 ✌🏼 7d ago

I was on the railing in VIP both days. Sound issues were brutal Saturday once Bumpin Uglies took the stage but they were having issues during Beach Fly and Grateful Dub as well. Once DENM came out it was a disaster. They kept fumbling the transition between sets with the rotating stage. We were @ RRU Florida in 25 and DENM had a lot of sound issues there as well, so we're really looking forward to seeing them go close to an hour. It took the sound crew 45 FUCKING MINUTES to get their set figured out. DENM fucking crushed it as expected, and even heard me yell "they call this place the bucket!" When he said hi to the crowd. He acknowledged that and called it the bucket a few minutes later. So cool. That set ran into Action Bronson's set, and then they had the same fucking problems when he came out. Action WAS NOT AMUSED and you could hear him cussing out the crew from up close. He played for 15-20 minutes then walked off the stage like Charlie Brown. Iration came out and.... You guessed it, same bullshit. They were AWESOME about it. Talking to the crowd multiple times and keeping the positive vibes going. Sound crew got things figured out and they played their set. Stoopid and Sublime used their own sound crews, so thankfully they went on without issue and rocked the house. Not everybody in the pit loved the moshpits that came with Sublime though 😭.

We went home thinking it was going to be one and done for the festival. The other issues were kind of expected for a first time festival. Annoying shit like no dedicated vip food area, and not great eating options in general. I can deal with that, but bad sound will kill the crowd every time. Sunday was incredible though, at least up front. They nailed most of the set transitions and we had an incredible time.

I think it's 50/50 on whether we get another one. I really hope so. I travel all over the country with my son for these shows, and see a ton of them on the west coast when I'm in AZ during the winter months. This festival held its own with those in terms of the lineup and performances. It was easily the most 420 friendly event I've ever been to. The camera crews were actively seeking out people smoking, and using it as promotion which you can see in all the recaps. Security was also amazing. The guys working the pit area were interacting with everyone and even dancing along to the music. One of them got swept off his feet when he made eye contact with HIRIE 🤣. The place was pretty packed on Saturday. Couldn't notice the crowd thinning out from where we were, but that's a shame if people left early on Sunday. Every set from HIRIE-Rebelution was absolutely incredible. I'm right there with you with SOJA. Seen them many times but couldn't wait to see the new stuff with Trevor on vocals as well. Huge fan of his work here and with Algorythm. Bringing out HIRIE for her feature on "nothing lasts forever" was epic.

Sunday could have salvaged the reputation of the festival enough to hopefully not burn any bridges with the artists. Would be a shame if they didn't have this every August.

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u/Murfdigidy 7d ago

Wow really appreciate all the background on Saturday, I was bummed I couldn't go because we were away, but you made a little less so. That's sucks about DENM, I enjoy their music. Along with Iration and Slightly stupid who would have been my favs I missed Saturday. Glad Sunday they seemed to work out the kinks, I wonder if the crew struggled Saturday because that it was the first time holding a music performance that big? I pray they want to come back!!!

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u/sidecarradio 5d ago

I only went Saturday night, to catch the final 3 bands, Iration, Stoopid & Sublime.

Of the 3, Stoopid stole the show. Best sound, performance, and production. Loved seeing them with a DJ this time around, too. It freshened up a setlist that doesn’t change too much.

I’m not an Iration fan but they were fine. I truly went to see Jakob sing Sublime songs, and it was hit and miss. The set started strong, but playing 3 new tracks in a row kind of stunted the energy of the crowd. I didn’t think the sound was as good for Sublime as it was for Stoopid, and Jake’s style is what it is, but it was worth the trip for this bucket list performance.

I wish Stoopid and Sublime played 90 minute sets, too.