Announced earlier this year, Reggae On The Block will return a second time to the historic downtown core of Orlando Florida. Showcasing an excellent sampling of today’s top touring reggae-rock bands, on Saturday May. 9th mellow music will fill the streets, including performances from Tribal Seeds and Iration!
Last May The Pier was fortunate to attend the first annual Reggae On The Block festival. Featuring 14 bands, the day was jam-packed and didn’t allow attendees a minute of rest. As soon as one band ended, the party picked right back up with another band starting on the opposite stage. We could not be more excited to see the event return in 2015!
Orlando is a city that has excellent environments for all types of entertainment. While famous for its amusement parks, Orlando also has several great live music venues. Over the past two decades the event-production company known as Foundation Presents has consistently brought live music to the heart of the downtown Orlando. Associated with the area’s infamous room known as The Social, and the adjoining Beacham Theater, for years these concert-promoters have been able to fill these halls, hosting many of the bands that come through the city. A major market in Florida for all sorts of live music, over the recent past these venues, while booking bands from all varieties of musical genres, have been a good host to the growing reggae rock scene. Centrally located it’s a hub that allows coastal residents from cities on both sides of the state to easily meet up and see a show on any given weekend night.
Foundation Presents seems to understand this market segment. Dedicated in scheduling their fair share of alternative reggae acts throughout the year, typically booking a night on every reggae-rock tour that comes through the state. It’s always a fun show, with a nice mix of fans, and sets from a couple of our favorite bands. Fortunately for all the reggae-rock fans down in Florida, to kick off the summer, Foundation Presents gets a handful of these bands together for one BIG concert. Said to be simply focused on the music, with this festival organizers have taken aim on moving reggae “from the shadows,” and placing it “front and center, on the block.”
Playing the second annual Reggae On The Block festival will be a total of 11 bands, all of which are notable representatives from all across the scene. Supporting the night’s headliners is a solid line-up that includes: Southern California’s Stick Figure and Fortunate Youth. The pop-reggae-rock of Ballyhoo! and the dubbed-out reggae funk from Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad. The roots reggae of Jamacia’s Rootz Underground, and Brooklyn, NY’s New Kingston. A hometown set from reggae-punk-rock forerunners, The Supervillians, as well as sets from the city’s local favorites, Kash’d Out and Marley’s Collie.
Also playing this year is Orlando’s own jam-reggae trio, the Savi Fernadez Band. The festival’s only returning act Savi Fernandez, while discussing their upcoming record with The Pier, also explained the band is honored the band asked back and excited to play a few new songs,
continuing, Reggae On the Block is such an awesome event to bring culture and a high level of reggae music to our hometown.
Kicking off at 2pm with the music playing non-stop till 1am, this year’s edition of the single day reggae festival will once again take place at the Social Pavilion and Washington Square in downtown Orlando. Located at the just behind the buildings on the corner of North Orange Avenue and West Washington Street, the stage areas are set-up a block west of North Orange Ave., on two adjacent lots north and south of West Washington Street. A main stage, The Jager Stage, is parked behind the bar Elixir, and the second stage, The Heineken stage, is well placed on the back lot of The Social/ Beacham Theater.
A site that’s typically just two parking lots, for several events though out the year ,organizers transform these spaces into a festival area that stretches the length of two football fields. With plenty of space for thousands of fans to dance and sing-along, the grounds are also filled with food and alcohol vendors, and plenty of different merchandise tents. Look for plenty of reggae-themed items and of course be sure to check out all of the bands’ souvenirs and swag.
When all put together the site’s a bit of a honey hole. Most importantly, there is the ample parking, Set up right next to a parking garage the site is also surrounded by tons of street parking and other lots. The area also has great places to check out for lunch. We recommend Planet Pizza or Gringos Locos burritos something quick and delicious before the event.
If traveling to Reggae on the Block from out of town, Downtown Orlando also has plenty of options for lodging. The organizers have also set up Reggae on the Block Discounted Hotel Rates. For more info … hailey@thesocial.org for discounted room rate sheet.
With the main entrance on the corner of North Orange Avenue and West Washington Street, and the event wisely held just behind the event-promotor’s venues, allows for Elixir and The Social to be used as VIP entrances and hangouts during the event
While the advance purchase of a general admission ticket only cost $35.00, a VIP ticket is also available. For $125.00 the Reggae On The Block VIP pass includes not only access to two air conditioned VIP lounges, with private restrooms, private bars (2 drink tickets included), catered food and exclusive DJ entertainment, there is also.access to reserved VIP area in front of both stages, as well as a goody bag containing ROTB2 VIP Laminate – ROTB2 T-Shirt and more.
For additional information and to keep up with festival announcements check out the details below.
Reggae On The Block 2015 Line Up:
Tribal Seeds
Irtaion
Stick Figure
Ballyhoo!
Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad
The Supervillians
Rootz Underground
Fortunate Youth
New Kingston
Savi Fernadez Band
Kash’d Out