Date: Friday/Saturday, July 15th & 16th, 2011
Line up: Rebelution & Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad
Location: Masontown, West Virginia @ the 2011 All Good Festival
Notoriously known for a jam-packed weekend of music, fun and good vibes is the AllGood festival held annually at Marvin’s Mountaintop in Masontown, West Virginia. With a set list including a variety of forty bands along with 35,000 people over four days, no music fan can call this festival an experience anything different from an “all good” time. Returning once again to represent the reggae scene on the 2011 lineup is none other than Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad and Rebelution.
Starting off the music from the main Dragon stage on Friday afternoon was Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad, playing an hour long set from 1-2 pm. The experimental roots reggae sound that Giant Panda delivers was a great way to start off the day, as everyone in the audience was grooving to the upbeat jams. When I first arrived to the mountaintop there was a large crowd of people who came for the set, soaking in the summer sunshine. Giant Panda gave off a strong energetic sound during the song “Seasons Change”, which really had the whole crowd swaying and dancing to the flowing rhythm.
Some other tracks played were “On the Moon”, “Love you More”, and the upbeat “. 45”. Towards the end of the show, Giant Panda front man James Searl introduced mandolin player Eric Robertson, who accompanied the band for a track on stage.
Rebelution took the stage at 5:05 pm on Saturday afternoon starting off the set with “Green to Black”. Bassist Marley Williams led the audience through a hand wave while front man Eric Rachmany had the whole crowd singing along to the catchy chorus line. I was very impressed by Rebelution at the show, exchanging some of the high-energy reggae influence for a more mellow jazz infused sound. All the old school Rebelution favorites such as “Lazy Afternoon”, “Otherside”, “Feeling Alright” and “Attention Span” were all played which had the audience singing their hearts out for almost the entire show. During the track “Running” frontman and guitarist Eric Rachmany and a special guest saxophone player had an onstage musical duel which once again had the crowd going absolutely nuts!
Another highlight of the night was the performance of a new track “Sky is the Limit” along with a special guest performance by James Searl of Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad on vocals! The energy was absolutely amazing as both vocalist teamed up for such a spectacular duet. Rebelution wrapped up the hour with crowd favorite “Safe and Sound”, ending the show with the whole mountaintop dancing to that reggae groove.
– Article & Photos by: Ashlee T Wells
Check out all of our past Concert Articles complete with photos (and some with videos), inside our Editorials section by clicking HERE
