It’s May! The beginning of summer, a time when bands kick off their annual summer tours and the music festival season really start to heat up. This month, Florida is especially on fire with festivals as the state is set to host 3 big events, featuring many genres, including some of the best acts in Reggae-Rock!
Over the next two weekends, Florida will play home to three highly anticipated music festivals spread across the state. During the first weekend of May, down in South Florida, two festivals will battle it out as West Palm Beach’s Sunfest will play opposite of Tampa’s Big Guava Festival. The following weekend the parties will move north to Orlando for Reggae on the Block.
On Thursday night, May 1st, Sunfest really starts to get going on the Tire Kingdom Stage with Aer and Sublime with Rome. Supporting their self-titled record released at the beginning of the year, packing in crowds with a combination of Rap, reggae, Pop and Indie-Rock, Aer is quickly gaining national notoriety. SWR has been selling out shows for years now. Keeping the music alive is a musical collaboration between Eric Wilson, original bassist of Sublime, and singer and guitarist Rome Ramirez.
This Saturday is the big day for live Reggae-Rock in Florida. On Sunfest’s Ford Stage, just after one o’clock, Florida’s own Spread The Dub will take the stage with a blend of Reggae, Dub and Ska. Following up will be Huntington Beach, California’s Dirty Heads. Supporting their most recent record, Home Phantoms of Summer: The Acoustic Sessions, released in October of 2013, the Dirty Heads will also be promoting the release of their new album, Sound of Change, due out on July 8th. Then to finish out the Reggae-Rock bill for that afternoon is Rebelution. Reblution will be performing many tracks off their beloved discography as well as promoting the forthcoming release of their new record Count Me In, set to be released on June 10th.
That same day, over on the west coast of the state, will be Florida’s newest music festival, the Big Guava Music Festival. Taking place in the enormous Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre at the Florida State Fairgrounds, this event boast an excellent line-up and The Pier will be there to catch several of those acts. Of them all, we are most excited about Slightly Stoopid’s evening set on the Grove Stage. Built on a bedrock made up of layered dubby bass, meditative vocal harmonies, rock-steady guitar licks and tightly syncopated percussive rhythms, the San Diego fusion outfit will kick off summer with spots at music festivals around the country as well as a national tour with the great Stephen Marley.
Tickets for the Big Guava Music Festival are on sale now, and can be found at BigGuavaFest.com
On Sunday, back over at Sunfest, the day is packed with talent. There are will be Roots and Reggae music from acts like Rusted Root, Inner Circle and The Wailers. There will also be harder sets from Streetlight Manifesto and Dropkick Murphy. To close out the weekend will be a headlining set from Elli Goulding, topped off with a beautiful fireworks display.
Tickets for Sunfest are on sale now, and can be found at Sunfest.com
The following Saturday, May 10th, The Pier will be in Orlando for Reggae on the Block Music Festival! On that day, Roots Reggae will take over downtown Orlando at the first-annual event. Reggae on the Block will take place from 3pm to 12am at Washington Square on the corner of Orange Avenue and Washington Street in the center of downtown. The festival will include 15 artists on 2 stages, featuring some of the best new artists on the scene, as well as living legends, including Easy Star Allstars, Katchafire, Pato Banton and The Now Generation, Passafire, Natty Vibes, The Movement, Mike Pinto, Ojo de Buey, The Hip Abduction and more.
Tickets for Reggae on the Block are on sale now, and can be found right here.
Theses are events are the perfect way to start the summer, do not miss out!
Article By: Aaron Solomon