There has been a pre-party held each year the night before Reggae Rise Up Maryland, and this year was held at Power Plant Live! With a great line-up to get everyone teed up ready for the festival.  It was great running into some friends ready to have a good time, enjoy some music and prepare for the three days ahead of us.  The night started off with Tom Blake and Jesse Anderson, the duo known as Get ‘Em Wet from York, PA.  First time hearing them for me, and I really liked what they were doing on stage.  They both have a nice flow to their rapping and vocals and really work well with each other. I think I would describe them as a reggae-rock hip-hop group, but they really have their own style and vibe. Their music and beats could be a little better, they were a little flat and similar, I think if they were to hook up with a good producer or DJ the sky is the limit. Next up was Ray Wroten from Bond and Bentley and Joey Mitchell on the upright bass.  Ray Wroten (Bond and Bentley), out of Baltimore, is a blues, funk, soul band. Another first timer for me, Ray has a nice bluesy/soulful voice and style and Joey killed it on the bass.  Nice feeling they brought to the stage, just the two of them putting on a nice flow.

Next up was a band from Northeast, PA called Elephants Dancing.  It's a band I have been trying to check out for a while now being from PA myself, just never worked out with my schedule.  Funny I had to go to another state to see them finally.  But it was well worth the wait.  They absolutely killed it on stage, their sound is so strong, the reggae ska vibes flowing through the air all night. Danny and Michael have some nice vocals and lyrics (and great guitarist), Dan and Adam with fantastic on the horns and Thomas kept it all together on drums.  They released Chill Like Penguins last year, very solid album, waiting to hear their next album and how they will grow.  These guys are young, but sound as if they have been doing this for a long time. I really enjoyed their set and thought, The Harbor Boys have their work cut out for them to top these guys. Pretty cool when Cody jumped on stage to perform with them, I love seeing how much all these bands love each other and support each other. And next up was The Harbor Boys, the Baltimore group lead by Cody and Gingy.  I first met them and heard them at the first RRU pre-party and have been following them ever since.  As you can read in my day 2 review for RRU, I am impressed with the new Harbor Boys.  They added some band members and deleted some band members and added some percussion and sax, which I think works out magnificently. Their sound has gotten a lot better and now is more complete, there is an added level to them. They had Brandon Hardesty and Drew Francis join them on stage and the energy really kicked up a notch. I love the growth we have seen from them over the past couple of years, they seemed to have found their style and there is no stopping them.

The night was finished off with Brandon Hardesty of Bumpin’ Uglies, the Annapolis native put on a really great acoustic set for the crowd. It was a nice chill way to end the night for the crowd after a few upbeat and crazy performances.  I always liked Brandon’s vocals but getting to hear him alone on stage with his guitar really made is voice stand out and what a great voice it is.  He is also a fantastic guitar player; I think the crowd was singing along to every word of every song.  Kind of gave me chills down my spine listening to the interaction.  They really do love him in Maryland! At one point his guitar wasn’t working, wasn’t playing through the amps. He said to the crowd, if we can’t get this working, I may come down there by one of the tables and we will all gather around.  They got it working and he started up again, but I will be completely honest, I wish they didn’t get it going because I think it would have been absolutely magnificent if he came down and performed with the crowd circled around him. When he finished up, I took a look around the crowd and realized they didn’t want this to end but were also anxious to go to bed because we had a great three days ahead of us.

I love these pre-parties before a big festival, it just gets everyone ready for the big event, it gets me primed and ready to photograph, and we just get some really good music and vibes.  It definitely is the perfect primer, and this night was no different. They all sounded so good, the crowd was loving every minute and we were all ready for the next three days!

One Love – Todd Judd