Buju Returned! Oh what a Mighty Dread!

We could only half imagine what it would be like at the Jamaica National Stadium to witness the Long Awaited Buju Banton, Long Walk to Freedom Concert. What would it be like to see and hear thousands and thousands of people from all corners of the globe gathered together to see the return of Buju. It was so much more than our imagination could contain, we could do a long write up about the vibe in the National Stadium, but it would never be sufficient to give an idea of the Circumstances and vibe, not with pictures, not even with video. It was a show with magic moments, magical heights, you could feel it in the air.

After the warm up pre-show done by Massive B, the opening with choir by Wayne Marshall and other great performances by Miss Kitty and the Boom dancers, Delly Ranks, the ever entertaining Ghost, Agent Sasco, L.U.S.T, Romain Virgo, Christopher Martin, Cocoa Tea with a guest performance by Koffee  and finally Chronixx the wait was on the General to take the stage.

From the very first notes of the ever epic and never failing ‘Carmina Burana’ (O Fortuna) by Carl Orff, the mood was set for the night, people went wild when the Mighty Dread, Buju Banton slowly entered the stage, head down, focused on what he was about to do. Watched by thousands… and you could hear a pin drop, when he started chanting his “on bended knees” and went on his knees the crowd made perfectly clear that they hadn’t forgotten the Champion, the Gargamel. From that moment on from “Not an Easy Road” to “African Pride” the whole show was one big energetic rollercoaster with all his biggest hits that were, where possible, performed with Buju’s closest friends like Wayne Wonder, Stefflon Don, Gramps Morgan,, Marcia Griffiths and of course Mr Beres Hammond. Goosebumps moments Galore! Buju Banton raised the bar for Reggae music, Good to have you back Buju, there is only one life u’ve got to live, come on lets live it right!

Again we could make this article a whole bag of long talking but we suggest to wait on our aftervideo to catch the vibes, as far as that is possible. To be honest, this really was one of those ‘you had to be there’ moments in (reggae) History. Who Say Reggae dead??

World A Reggae Would like to thank the Buju Banton Long Walk To Freedom Team for letting us part of this epic concert.

Pictures by Danny Creatah, More photos will be added soon.