Yaksta ADD

Best Moments... Reggaeville Easter Special in Berlin & Hamburg 2024

04/06/2024 by Gardy Stein

The annual Reggaeville Easter Special is one of the first highlights every year, heralding the end of winter and the coming of spring with powerful Reggae music. This year's edition was extra special, with more shows than ever before (in cooperation with the Summerjam Festival, Cologne has been added to the line-up, now including six shows) and memorable events that were celebrated on and off stage. Our brief concert report will shine a light on some of the best moments of this tour, including the visuals that were created by Team Reggaeville to make these memories last forever. 

BERLIN @ ASTRA KULTURHAUS | MARCH 29, 2024 – CELEBRATE LIFE!
The German capital was stop number three on this year's Reggaeville Easter Special. While preparations were running smoothly in the event location Astra Kulturhaus, the faces of tour organizers Christoph Tewes (Revelation Concerts) and Julian Schmidt (Reggaeville) were worried: news reached them from an accident on the highway that Yaksta's tour van was involved in. Luckily no one was badly hurt, but Team Yaksta (the singer is accompanied by tour manager Gavin "TipGod" Forbes, stylist Godmum and video director Shvckwave) arrived with a little delay and a bit shaken. Eek-A-Mouse, meanwhile, had enjoyed the comfort of an ICE ride, but ended up in Hannover instead of Berlin and so had to be quickly re-routed to make it – just in time for his show! But these troubles aside, the concert in Berlin was amazing, with almost 1,000 people showing up for the music they love, and a wild after-show-party with City Lock and Supersonic closed a wonderful spring night.

YAKSTA
"I almost didn't make it here, as I was involved in a car accident." announces the self-proclaimed Bush Lawd after delivering his first two tracks, Freedom Fighters and Serenity. "But we fine, we give thanks. If you give thanks for life, put your hands up!", Yaksta continues, and he then delivers the powerful Jet Black (on the Ginger Riddim produced by Silly Walks), which gets an instant pull-up. The Berlin crowd knows this one, as arms are up and people sing along loudly to the chorus. The ignited dancing fever intensifies during the subsequent cover of Peter Tosh's Johnny Be Good and the Ska-infused Boogie Woogie, and it's clear that Yaksta has won many new fans here tonight.

EEK-A-MOUSE
This man is a legend! Tunes like Wa-Do-Dem or Sensee Party made him famous, and his signature phrase "bidi-bidi-bang-bang-bidi-bang-bang-bidi-ben" announced him to the audience long before his impressive figure appeared on stage: Eek-A-Mouse! The set he has played until now was fun to watch, although the singer had clearly done justice to whatever his favorite drink is earlier. Now, however, he is fit and in full swing, delivering his anthem Ganja Smuggling to the cheerful crowd. "Ganja will be free in two days here!" he says, and the roaring response shows the amount of anticipation around. He then welcomes a woman on stage for a dance (her name is Teresa, as I find out later, a dancer and long-time Reggae activist) and, after a short break during which the people clap for an encore, he comes out again with a different outfit, wearing his cowboy hat. Eek-A-Mouse dives into the crowd, security in tow, and sings along with several visitors, one of them the South African singer Vido Jelashe who is taking the chance to deliver a little freestyle, right before my eyes. Definitely a highlight!

ANTHONY B
After a few minutes break for the hardworking House Of Riddim band (Sam Gilly on drums, Herb Pirker on guitar, Gerald Schaffhauser on bass and Parvez Syed on keys), they started Anthony B's set with Freedom Fighter. A first goosebumps-moment (one of many, actually) comes a few minutes into the show when the singer delivers his hit Good Life and, right after that, Waterpumpee. "Mi cool an deadly fi go dance with we ladies…" So many memories hang on this track, and a new one is added right now! Anthony B asks "Berlin, how are you feeling tonite? This is the Reggaeville Easter Special 2024, and it's all about love and life!" before delivering the rest of his well-known tunes, including the celebrated Chill Out, for which merch shirts are available, too.

DUB FX & MR. WOODNOTE
After a quick changeover, two Australians in dazzlingly colorful outfits enter the stage: Dub FX and Mr. Woodnote, who stepped in on short notice for their French colleagues Dub Inc. Their combination of beatboxing, loop-stationing as well as sax- and flute-playing is very different from the other three acts, but it makes those visitors happy who enjoy faster styles like HipHop, Dubstep and EDM. My personal favorite moment is the offbeat Fake Paradise, a track I remember well from reviewing Dub FX' 2016 album Thinking Clear. And, no, we can't leave out the moment when Eek-A-Mouse joins them, grabbing the mic for some more bidibeng. "I had no idea!" Dub FX announces afterwards, and, happy, he shares his high vibration with the crowd by jumping off stage and dancing with us.
 

HAMBURG @ FABRIK | MARCH 31, 2024 – CELEBRATE GANJA!
Two days later, we all meet again in Hamburg - home ground for me! The touring caravan encountered no more mishaps on the road (thank Jah!), and I hear that last night in Dortmund was a blast, where Anthony B celebrated his birthday at midnight with a vegan cake provided by my dear colleague Munchy [watch the video here]. At 7pm sharp, the doors to the Fabrik open and the location filling up quickly.

YAKSTA
With the House of Riddim band all set and ready to go, Yaksta enters stage a few minutes after arriving at the venue. He is fighting off a little cold and apologizes for the resulting hoarseness of his voice, but if anything, this just adds to his rough bush charm. "We have a new genre in Jamaica called Conscious Dancehall", he says in way of introducing his track Ambition, and before the subsequent No More Sales (on the Ganjaville Riddim) starts, he comments on the pending legalization, to happy cheers from the crowd. Yaksta also takes the time to ask the people to "keep supporting Reggaeville, Chris, House of Riddim, the whole team!" before he beams into the crowd once more and waves his goodbye.

EEK-A-MOUSE
Having just finished his set on stage (again visibly intoxicated and freestyling his way through), Eek-A-Mouse is taking a tour through the crowd once more, shaking hands, posing with fans and holding out the mic for those brave enough to sing along with him. After he leaves, local singer and MC of the evening, D-Flame, announces a 10-minute break for the band, and people use that time to get a drink or pop outside for a (at this time still illegal) joint.   

ANTHONY B
In contrast to his predecessor, Anthony B is professional as usual: fit, energetic and in style he leads us through his show, mentioning once that it's his birthday today. Two girls in the crowd lift up their self-made cardboard-signs saying "Blessed Earthstrong", and the singer calls out to everyone present: "If you love Reggae music like I do, lift up your hands! We are the people, we have the power, we are all students in this journey called life. Africa, Germany, Hamburg… Marihuana!" The best moment in his set tonight, imho, is his delivery of My Yes & My No, sung along to fervently by the audience.

DUB FX & MR. WOODNOTE
"The world wants peace, that's for sure, this thing called war we don't want no more. No more, no more, no more guns, no more bombs…" Dub FX' track No More holds so much truth! He and Mr. Woodnote play the final slot again, and although people had started to leave during the changeover break, many of them come back now to enjoy the fast-paced sounds of this duo. A young man in front of me says "they have a little Groundation vibe", and I think he is right, especially in the slower, jazzier pieces.
00:01am - GANJA IS LEGAL IN GERMANY!
Surprise! Looking at his watch, Dub FX announces that it's time for a special celebration, and all artists join him on stage, holding a spliff each. At midnight, Anthony B lights the biggest one, D-Flame waves a Marihuana banner, and the whole place goes mad: as of today, the possession and consumption of Ganja is largely legal for adults in Germany! While Eek-A-Mouse casually leans on one of the Fabrik's wooden pillars and bidibengs ceaselessly into his mic, Yaksta and Anthony B take turns delivering freestyles on the beat provided by Dub FX, and the audience joins in the biggest legalization party in town.

What a night, and what a blessing that we were all here to witness this historic moment together‼! A huge THANK YOU to each and everyone who made this possible: the singers and players of instruments, organizers Christoph (Revelation Concerts) and Julian (Reggaeville), visual capturers Björn, Marox, HoRo, Eljer, Hans, Celine, Munchy and Thomas von der Heiden, video-editor Rune, driver Roman, the tour managers TipGod (Yaksta), Tim (Eek-A-Mouse) and Kid (Anthony B) and you, and you, and you, and you… see y'all next year! Big up to our sponsors WEED, BIOTABS and HAMCAN and media partners RIDDIM, HANF MAGAZIN and COSMO!

When asked for his impressions of the Reggaeville Easter Special 2024, Yaksta told us:

"It's almost like any other tour, but Reggaeville is more prepared! The first show reminded me of Jamaica to be honest, but with a more attentive audience. The second show was more family friendly, more up-close and personal. The reception from the crowd was superb, just like the first. Going to the third show, I had an accident, unfortunately, but we end up still reach, had a good time in Berlin, they showed us a lot of love. The reception, the reviews, the accommodation, everything was just on peak. The fourth show… I actually loved last night, I really enjoyed Dortmund, and here now in Hamburg is the next vibe. It's nice to be travelling around Germany, meeting people with different vibrations. Germany is a pretty interesting place, but sadly we never got to spend any amount of time in the cities to look around. Our driver, Roman, is one of the best, I really enjoy him driving and talking to us and teaching us about Germany."

PHOTO REPORTS: KÖLN | MÜNCHEN | BERLIN | DORTMUND | HAMBURG | AMSTERDAM