At around midnight, the initially scheduled closing time of the festival, Grammy-award winning reggae group Steel Pulse came on. Spirits and island fever were high when this reggae legend put on a one and a half hour show filled with their greatest hits and best dance moves.
Grammy award winning reggae band Steel Pulse
Matisyahu
One artist that deserves his own section here has to be main festival headliner Matisyahu. Due to the night’s lineup delay, the Jewish indie reggae/rap artist did not take the stage until around 2am.
Matisyahu & Band at Guam Live
Very much to his dismay he explained that his performance needed to be cut short to an hour; he was scheduled to take a Hawaiian-bound flight immediately afterwards. Before starting his set he thanked the crowd for patiently sticking around.
A few sound glitches in the beginning of his performance only added to Matisyahu’s already sour mood. All the professional though, he gathered himself to give a flawless performance and inspire Guam Live with his music and lyrics of peace and hope for a better future. After singing, rapping, beatboxing some of his greatest hits, he let the crowd experience his new music by performing live for the first time ‘Star on the Rise’ off his latest album ‘Akeda’.
While we thought the night couldn’t end any better, Matisyahu topped it all and proved that talent didn’t limit coolness by asking the crowd to join him on stage during his encore ‘One Day’: “No need to raise your hands, just come on up here!” Hysterically, fans jumped the barrier to unite and dance with the headliner on stage and sing the inspiring words of the festival’s last song:
One day this all will change
Treat people the same
Stop with the violence
Down with the hate
One day we’ll all be free
And proud to be
Under the same sun
Singing songs of freedom like
One day
Incredible ending to a festival weekend success: Matisyahu and fans singing “One Day”
Unbelievable! Where have you EVER experienced a world-class musician be so collected when things go wrong, so accessible to the fans, so inspiring in his art and just so freaking all-around cool? Exactly: nowhere!
Ahh, Matisyahu, you have our most sincere respect and surely created an inspired new fan base (if they weren’t already fans before) in Guam. And if you are reading this, may we humbly ask you at this point to please schedule a concert in Manila soon? Thank you!
Summary
All in all this festival was an incredible experience! A few things that could definitely see improvement: adherence to schedule as well as decreased wait-time in between performances. Despite this, let’s remember that the event was a first for Guam and surely the next time around mistakes will have been learned from and processes improved.
By nearly 4am on Sunday morning, our eyes were tired, voices gone but our hearts were full.
To me personally the entire experience was absolutely worth the weekend’s sleep deprivation and stress over piled-up work at home. So worth it in fact, I am mentally already making plans of attending #GuamLive2015. And since sharing is caring, continue reading the 3 reasons why you should attend the Guam Live International Music Festival next year here:
*Photo Credit: Tropical Productions
** Photo Credit: Guam Visitors Bureau
Guam Live International Music Festival
Website: www.guam-live.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/GULiveIMF
