The Buju Banton Blog

When it comes to reggae concerts you never know exactly what you’re going to get. The most hyped-up and well-promoted events often turn out to be huge dissapointments. But every once in awhile an artist shows up and totally destroys di place! That’s exactly what I witnessed this past Sunday in Santa Cruz, California at the Catalyst nightclub…

Buju came, saw, and conquered!

The greatest reggae artist in the world showed up and gave the crowd a lesson in reggae music, both literally and figuratively. The 1-hour, 40-minute set (by far the longest Buju performance I’ve ever seen) featured incredible, high-energy performances of dozens of classic hits, some newer hits, a few singles off the recently-released Too Bad album, a great impersonation of vocal-legend Gregory Isaacs, and even a ska medley/reggae history lesson in which the great Gargamel performed covers of “My Girl Lollipop” and “Simmer Down” as well as his own ska hit “Feeling Groovy.”

Between songs Buju tried to explain the origins of ska and reggae in Jamaica. Unfortunately the significance and “specialness” of this was lost on the vast majority of the people in the crowd, most of whom were enveloped in huge clouds of herb smoke (gotta love NorCal!). But overall the crowd was very into the music, returning the energy erupting from the stage. It was truly an unforgetable experience and one of the best Buju Banton performances I’ve ever seen!

Here are a few quick observations/notes off the top of my head:

• This was the 6th time I’ve seen Buju in concert, but the first time on the West Coast (the other shows were in Atlanta, Philadelphia, and New Jersey).

• After attending a fairly lackluster (and short) performance in Atlantic City last month, I was very happy and relieved to see Buju give such an incredible and energetic performance in Santa Cruz.

• This show seemed to be the least “scripted” and most free-flowing I’ve seen in a long time.

• The small group of “pro gay” protestors standing outside the club were pretty much ignored. Buju didn’t perform “Boom Bye Bye”.

• The crowd was by far the whitest I’ve ever seen. It feels weird to go from being literally one of only two white people (the other was my friend) at the Atrium club on Memorial Drive in Atlanta (1999) to being in a crowd that’s 95% white!

Have you attended a Buju show recently? Be sure to leave a concert report in the comments section!