A cold crisp Friday night in Baltimore didn’t stop anyone from having an incredible night filled with soothing  and catchy reggae beats that could move a mountain.    The three bands on  the bill were “The Green”, “The Movement” and “Iration”.   All of which  brought their original twist on reggae to the house whether it was “The Green” bringing the roots, “The Movement” bringing the hip-hop or “Iration” bringing the Pop.

This was the first time “The Green”, hailing from Hawaii  would be playing a show in Baltimore.  For such a young band to already be playing on the east coast is definitely a huge achievement of it’s own, considering they have only been around for a little more than a year.   Our friend’s over at Music Bailout did an interview with them and until then I had not heard of them.  So when I saw they were coming to Baltimore, I just had to go and as an added bonus the catchiest band in the scene “Iration” was on the bill  too.     The Green played a bunch of songs off their self titled album,  with positive and conscious lyrics layered with high energetic rootsie melodies that will have you moving your feet.  This four piece brings a tight sound like a breath of fresh air, bringing something new to the table to keep our ears open and our hearts filled with love.

The Movement, hailing from Philly was the second band to go on and let me just say these guys are very in your face, live and full of energy.   Bringing you some moveable reggae rock with a hint of hip-hop.  Still promoting their most recent release, “Set Sail”.  Perfect music to throw on at a party to have with some food, beer and surrounded  by  some good friends.  This was another band I had never seen before but this sure won’t be the last time I see these guys.   I’ll  end this write up about the movement with the quote of the night  from lead singer,  Jordan Miller,    “I want to see people leaving here with fucking duffle bags of shit from all these bands tonight”.

Iration originally from Hawaii but hailing from California was the last band to hit the stage for the night.  I had seen these guys once before at the State Theater with reggae international superstars SOJA and California sensations Rebelution.  Since then they have released their new album “Time Bomb” and had quickly gathered a larger fan base.  Iration played a couple songs from their first full length album “No Time for Rest”  and a bunch of songs from “Time Bomb”.  The band has grown since the last time I have seen them, including  their facial hair.  But definitely have gotten a tighter sound and do an awesome job with crowd interaction.  After playing a bunch of killer tunes, we the fans definitely wanted more because we still had not heard their number one hit, “Falling” but Micha had comeback on stage by himself to play an acoustic version of a new song that would be on the next EP coming out in February.  Followed by the rest of the band coming on and playing “Falling” and “Cookie Jar” for us.  A great way to end the night.

All of these bands did an awesome job!  And after the show all of the bands came out and mingled with all of the fans that were hanging around either to buy merchandise or to meet the members from all the bands.  It’s nice to  stand back and watch the fan and band interaction, because it means a lot to both parties that the fans are really thankful for their music and the bands are thankful for all the fans that come and support them while on tour.  Thank you to everyone who helped make this show such a hit.  Everyone who is behind the scenes, the stage crew, the sound engineers, publicist , booking agents and SONAR for allowing such incredible music to take place in their venue.

By: Ryan McKeldin