Summer of the Arts - Working at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts: Dready in my Soul

Reggae is not a genre heard very often at Wolf Trap but it was in full force last night. With three performers and nearly 4 hours of music, we had a half day festival on our hands. The headliners were reggae legends Slightly Stoopid. The band formed on the beaches of San Diego, CA and were soon discovered by Sublime lead singer Bradley Nowell. Guitarist Mike Doughty and bassist Kyle MacDonald jammed together in high school and built a following in California while preparing their first record. They released their debut album in 1996 and while their early music was mostly just straight reggae and ska, they began to incorporate new styles in their later albums. With the addition of another drummer and a horn section, they further developed their sound and have released 8 albums in total. In fact, they just released an album today so go listen to it! The band has also started their own label where they have been releasing their own music while signing other up and coming acts as well. Their record sales might not be huge, but that's typical of an alternative act and they're no doubt big names on the reggae scene.

This show was hyped up a ton by just about everyone on the park. The tour came through last year when I wasn't working and the stories that emanated from it were about as crazy as it ever gets in our venue. Luckily, this show featured the same great music but not as much of the frenzied crowd. The first band to come on was Pepper. The Hawaiian trio didn't sound all that good on stage but their energy buoyed their set and their records are actually pretty good. The next act was Stick Figure and they were my favorite band of the night. They were firmly rooted in traditional reggae but they just sounded great and the vocals in particular were the best we had. Also they brought their dog Cocoa on the stage which automatically makes them awesome (hopefully the dog had earplugs!) Slightly Stoopid closed the show and the crowd went pretty berzerk. The band was unique among the three in that they used many different styles. Reggae, ska, hip-hop, rock and pop were all sampled in their set and they even did a great version of Tom Petty's "You Don't Know How it Feels". While no one in the band distinguished themselves individually, they were tight on stage and the horn section added a lot to their. Unfortunately, I was pretty busy with the patrons so couldn't dedicate as much time to listening as I normally do but the whole vibe of the show was just different than any other show this year. Reggae has that ability to really loosen you up and minus the excessive drinking, everyone was in high spirits. When I did spare a glance at the stage, it looked like a party up there with different people spittin lyrics and encouraging everyone to "feel the green". If that's not reggae than I don't know what is.

My favorite part of the show was when Slightly Stoopid played their song "2AM". Admittedly it was the only song of theirs I knew at the time but it's just a feel good song and really got the crowd going!

Looking forward to more shows in the future!

DC