report: reggae geel 2015 (03-08)

"69.000 visitors broke the attendance record for Reggae Geel but still they manage to keep the festival vibes cozy"
Foto
It was time for our yearly visit to the amazing Reggae Geel festival. Our 9th edition in a row and we cannot imagine missing an edition. Reggae Geel always delivers and the moment you see the orange/red houses in the streets of Geel we feel like coming home. The line-up was different from last year. Last year a lot of 'new' talents came to the mainstage but this year Reggae Geel's main stage ingredients were some serious living legends. The Twinkle Brothers, Brigadier Jerry, Barrington Levy, Josey Wales, Supercat (First show ever in Europe), Chuck Fenda, David Rodigan, King Shiloh Sound System, Jah Shaka and many more made sure this was an edition we would never forget. Even Protoje was around although he was not included in the line-up. He was catching the vibes at the Mainstage but as well in the 18inch Corner and Bouncehall area where he did a suprise performance of 'Who Knows' alongside David Rodigan and SuperCat. That is prove of the major impact Reggae Geel has on her visitors and artists. He simply couldn't miss the unique vibes after performing twice on the mainstage the last years.
Arrival
We always leave early when it comes to Reggae Geel. We dont want to miss a minute and when the gates open at 9 o' clock in the morning we are there to pick a nice spot on the camping. This year the organization decided to change the camping policy. The people had to wait for a spot since they were only allowing a certain amount of visitors to go and build up their tents before they let the next group of visitors go and find a spot. Understandable but a little bit overdone. We couldn't complain though because our friend was in a wheelchair and we were allowed to pick our spot next to them. We waited for the sign (from the friendly people organizing this) and made our camp. Reggae Geel had started and we settled down preparing for some MAJOR artist.
Friday
The festival gates opened around 6 o' clock and the first die hards were already in line to enter the terrain. The line was a bit to big for us so went to the camping tent for some Dj vibes. Each year different sounds get the chance to introduce themselves to the Reggae Geel camping crowd and a lot of people came out. Also a good opportunity to buy some tokens without a major line in front of us! The suns was shining like always (Give thanks!) and we couldn't be more happier. After meeting a lot of people on the Camping terrain (Nice to meet you all!) we went to the festival and what a difference from ReggaeJam (for example) of course there was some security but they were just wishing people a good and pleasant day. That's the way we like it.
In the meanwhile the festival started and all the areas were booming. People were visiting the Yard, dancing in the Skaville tent. The Big bouncehall tent was still empty because most of the people were enjoying the sun. We went for the 18 Inch corner to meet up with the King Shiloh Family who brought their new set to play the tunes for the massive. The first artist we saw performing on the mainstage was Barrington Levy this legend was finally here, after his absence last year. Of Course this legend came with a large collection of big tunes but it was a little pity he made the crowd sing most of dem. Even though we were impressed by his sweet singing voice and performance. Shaggy made the (female) crowd go crazy like they were at a pop concert. A little missfit for the roots reggae festival Reggae Geel used to be but that's just a matter of taste. 
The atmosphere at the festival sight was stunning. People everywhere, simply everywhere. But in a good order. Black, White, Yellow, Purple, Green everybody was one, the way it is supposed to be. When we go to Reggae Geel of course we are enjoying all the big permances but maybe most important the atmosphere all around the festival. This is what Reggae Geel makes an unique festival in Europe and perhaps the world. Great prove of that is the ever growing attendance (69.000 visitors this year!). Maybe another terrain change is necessary for next year.
Of to the 18 inch corner to hear and feel the Mighty King Shiloh Sound System who hosted the Dub forest for 2 days. It came to our attention that when Shiloh wasn't playing their sound was minimized to half (maybe a little more) and that was a little bit dissapointing. Of course we do understand that King Shiloh wants to be the hardest (and they deserve that by building their amazing new set) but a little bit more respect for the other sounds would be nice. The moment King Shiloh started playing the dub forest exploded and people were going crazy. Everyone was dancing and what a beautiful sight that was. The session went on for hours and what a joy it is to be there knowing tomorrow is another day!
Saturday
After a 2 or 3 hours sleep we woke up and immediately the festival continued. Some sounds were playing on the camping and the One Love Cafe was offering breakfast and sweet reggae vibes which a lot of people enjoyed. Another great day was ahead of us with so many names coming up we already knew we couldn't see them all. The first we came out for was Prezident Brown, an underestimated artist (in my humble opinion) with a powerful album released a couple of years ago. He welcomed the crowd in for his conscious party. An impressive appearance and a voice fitting to that, a class artist! 

After Prezident Brown was ready we rushed to the dub forest for the opening hour of King Shiloh, keeping track of the time because we wanted to see Etana, Pressure and Chuck Fenda. A nice bonus was that there was no break between Pressure and Chuck Fenda so we could continue without waiting (or ofcourse rushing to one of the other stages) They all delivered as expected. Pressure with his stunning voice and uplifiting lyrics, Etana who did a couple of beautiful covers for some of her female artists. What a joy to see this star perform, she is all about joy on stage, alongside with some of her serious tunes. Chuck Fenda obviously enjoyed the crowd and he couldn't leave the stage after he was done, he kept going. We didn't know what to expect from him, of course we knew a lot of tunes but we came for Gwaan Plant. That tune we missed but one big tune after another made up for that. Great performance by one of Jamaica's living legends in reggae music.
In The Yard Heights Meditation Band was playing (BRC 2015 Band final winners) always nice to see them perform, this band is unique for its three male singers but they manage to do it in perfect harmony. Pascion also performed at that stage, unfortunately we missed that performance but winning the BRC 2015 MC finals you must be up to something.

Meanwhile in the Skaville there was DJ Dab representing the Netherlands with some of his Skatunes. The Skaville is a seperate party on the Reggae Geel festival, the moment you get in the tent you can't resist to dance. Pure joy and vibration and even though we didnt spent much time there we heard some people talking about it and they were very positive! Big up to the organization for bringing such a divers program to its festival every year! Just walking around the festival terrain is one of the best things at Reggae Geel. Look at all the wonderful people enjoying themselves.
Up next visiting the Dub forest again for another King Shiloh session (they were playing a couple of sets). We saw a Belgium sound playing in the Dub forest. One of the 'RupelSoldaten' (a Belgium formation in hiphop dub who played at the Yard earlier) cought our attention with his lyrics (English and Flemish) and one of our favorite tunes 'Ethiopia' from Dub Dynasty made it hard to leave the dub forest. Exile di Brave was performing at the Yard and we wanted to see his performance as well. What an energy this youngster brings, we saw him perform with Rockers International in the Park in Arnhem, but solo his voice comes out really well. His message was simple but strong 'More Love'. He made everybody dance at the Yard including the children. He also mentioned the HELP JAMAICA! foundation at Reggae Geel, something he was very proud of. Micah Shemaiah also performed later on but we missed that, maybe next year on the mainstage?

The Twinkle Brothers were calling and we unfortunately missed the first three songs. We came in with babylon is falling (one of our favorites) and they played a stunning set of tunes. One of the highlights of the festival for sure! What a performance. What a voice and what message nothing but respect. He spoke of love, faith and some strong lyrics against pedophiles. We can only hope they will come to Holland in the near future to perform in a venue like Paradiso. That would be very special! 
Supercat is the last artist we saw after staying at Shiloh for some time. This artist dont need no introduction, a historical performance at the Reggae Geel festival again. He owned the stage and the people were into his performance. That supercat was enjoying Reggae Geel as well was proven by his guest performance alongside David Rodigan (almost directly after his mainstage performance) he joined the DJ Veteran Rodigan in the Bouncehall area. We came in at the right time because Protoje also joined David Rodigan for another unique and historical session (Only at Reggae Geel). The night slowly went out with some of the sweet tunes and dubplates by Legend Rodigan and  yet another Reggae Geel was (almost) behind us.
Walking to the camping terrain we came across the Bangarang Sound System. A mobile sound system giving the reggae/dub lovers some last vibes. They were active all over the festival, unfortunately we didn't catch up on dem on the terrain.

Conclusion: Only at Reggae Geel!
Reggae Geel not only broke the attendance record, they also brought the people a line up and some combination we shall not forget. We missed the unique performance by Brigadier Jerry, Josey Wales and Supercat together unfortunately but we heard people couldn't stop talking about it. We can simply advise anyone to go and catch a vibe next year. What a festival! The oldest and first reggae festival in Europe still standing strong and breaking barriers!! Bless up to the organisation and give thanks for inviting us again!