ٳܰ岹’s concert was a marathon, and the eventap most faithful fans showed their worth by pulling all-day shifts in the sun to help celebrate its 25th anniversary.
Of course, the parking lots were packed with action – music, smokables, friends, drinks and pale suburban teenagers in their Rastafarian colors. “Do you wanna buy this?” “Do you wanna buy that?” Everything was for sale, from single Parliament cigarettes to amazingly hot burritos from a cooler. (Side note: Dear burrito man in the lower south lot 1, thank you for those amazingly hot bean burritos with green chili. You made our afternoon.) Everybody was talking about the music, and it seemed most were psyched to see two groups on ٳܰ岹’s bill: Steel Pulse and Rebelution.
The 37-year-old Steel Pulse played the nightap penultimate set – after the sun went down, and before the tiredness set in. (Veteran Burning Spear closed the show as fans consistently exited the venue.)
Steel Pulse frontman David Hinds brought his group through a set of mostly familiar standards – including set-closer “Roller Skates,” love song “Your House” and the popular singalong “Chant a Psalm.” The newer “No More Weapons” connected with the dance-happy audience, and it helped that the famously dreadlocked Hinds’ voice was in fine form – and his band was willing to give into the festival atmosphere with a hits-friendly set.
Rebelution’s new-school reggae connected with the festap early-evening crowd. They’re a young band from California, and they sound like it: Light dub tones, familiar themes and SOJA-styled drums.
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Ricardo Baca is the founder and executive editor of , the co-founder of and an award-winning critic and editor at The Denver Post.
Karson Brown is a Denver photographer and a regular contributor to Reverb.
