We catched a vibe at Reggae geel 2014 (Day 1) - what a festival... | day 2 click here >

The 1st of August this year Reggae Geel opened their gates for another (36th!!) wonderful edition. Reggae Geel is the oldest reggae festival in Europe starting 36 years ago with just Sound Systems on a camping for a couple of hundred people. Reggae Geel nowadays is a major reggae festival with over 65.000 visitors during the weekend. A BIG Line up was waiting for us and of course we couldn't wait to see Damian 'Junior Gong' Marley closing Reggae Geel 2014. But there was many many more to see at Reggae Geel 2014 and we surely did!
We were at Reggae Geel for our 8th time in a row now and we can see this amazing festival is growing bigger and bigger every year. In our first years we could park our cars next to our tent but nowadays that is simply impossible. Within a couple of hours a huge camping site is turned into a small city and like always Jah sun was on the rise once again blessing the Reggae Geel Camping field.
Sticky Sound Crew
For the early birds there was a tent on the camping site and since the festival gates weren't open yet we decided to make some first dancing steps in the tent (also a nice spot to hide from the sun for a while). In the tent we came upon the Sticky Sound Crew (amongst others Reggae Barbie and Robbie Roots) alongside three chanters (One of dem Ras Cloud of Butoyi) and they realy made an effort to get the party started already. They put in a lot of energy and people were enjoying the first vibes of Reggae Geel 2014.
Pictures by Irie-photography
Open the gates
And then finally the gates are open for the first day of Reggae Geel. Some big artists were awaiting us and we were looking forward to acts like Chronixx & Dre Island, Alpha&Omega and Bunny Wailer of course. One of the best thing about the festival Friday's, there is another day coming... Lots of familiar faces al round the festival ground and the vibes were on! We didn't count the people but we are pretty sure this was the busiest Friday-evening so far on Reggae Geel. Of Course this year's Friday line-up could have been the Saturday line-up as well. Geel first started with Friday night performances last year and let's hope they will make this a new tradition! (What about Sunday?)..
Legendary 18 Inch Corner at Reggae Geel
The legendary 18 Inch Corner at Reggae Geel is a BIG part of the festival. Many people get in that corner and never leave during the festival. You will catch a special vibe at the 18 Inch Corner and the music will get to your heart & soul... (literally!). The 18 Inch Corner is close by the Main stage so you can easily walk between the two areas without missing anything. This is what Reggae Geel is about, it started off with Sound Systems and never forgot them. Of Course this festival is getting huge, but there is still a very nice and cozy atmosphere, not easily matched by any other festival in Europe. Once you get to Reggae Geel you will be coming back fi sure!
Reggae revival with Dre Island
Reggae revivalist Dre Island made his debut on Reggae Geel this year, this roots voiced vocalist made an impression for himself and it is just a matter of time before we will see more of him. A stunning opening, and some tunes like 'Uptown, Downtown' and 'Rastafari way' gave the crowd the right energy and made them ready for Chronixx and the ZincFence Redemption Band. Dre Island is part of the Reggae Revival movement which includes vocalist like Protoje, Jesse Royal, Chronixx and Jah9. We have seen most of dem live now and we cannot say anything else that they all deliver a quality performance and beautifull conscious tunes.
Pictures by Irie-photography
Chronixx & ZincFence Redemption Band
After his performance in the Tonight show with his Dread and Terrible project Chronixx star is rising fast. He did shows in European festivals last year but stood in the shadow of vocalists like Protoje. Now he is a headliner himself and this youngster is here to stay. The son of reggae pioneer Chronicle came with his own band the ZincFence Redemption Band. A powerful band with young musicians. Chronixx performed his Dread & Terrible album, 'They dont know' and of course 'Who Knows' too bad Protoje wasn't there on Friday but on Saturday... but eh you cyan win em all. 
Pictures by Irie-photography
In the meanwhile...
In the meanwhile the 18 Inch Corner came in Full force. The atmosphere in this corner at night is simply amazing. People dancing, the smell of the trees and everybody just happy that they are in the 18 Inch Corner again. It is something you can tell by the look of the vocalists on stage too. They were just staring over the crowd sometimes. Soaking up the view, performing at that corner must be something special for the artists. Forward Fever ft. Kenny Knots were the first act, followed by Fatman vs. coxsone. Alpha & Omega were the headliner for Friday night and lots of people gathered to dub the night away...
Dancehall
Dancehal star Beenie man brought some fiyah inna di place. His energy bursted over the field and the crowd clearly was going mad.
We were in the 18 Inch Corner at that time so i cannot say much about his performance, of course we took a glimps and made some movies to make sure you dont have to miss out on Beenie Man in this report!
Bunny Wailer: Legend at work
Friday headliner this year was Bunny Wailer, a legend who doesn't need an introduction. There was a magical vibe when Bunny Wailer entered the stage with the Rastaman Chant. A lot of Bunny's songs are associated with Bob Marley but are actually written by Bunny Wailer himself. What a joy it was to hear those songs live on stage. We've seen Bunny Wailer before but it was a while ago and Bunny Wailer totally lived up to our expectations. Fantastic horns made this show complete. Every Roots Reggae band needs some horns but that's just my opinion.. tunes like 'Baldhead Jesus' really made the crowd dance and sing... What a joy it was to be a part of it..
18 Inch Corner
After Bunny Wailer people quickly moved to the 18 Inch Corner to catch the last vibes of Friday night... Alpha & Omega went all out. What Bunny Wailer was for the Mainstage, Alpha & Omega were for the 18 Inch Corner. This world famous DUB Sound was another amazing act to an impressive line-up for Reggae Geel 2014. You can see young and old together dancing to timeless music, what a sight!!