Bright Side Festival rocks Jewel Paradise Cove with reggae music

For the fifth straight year, Island Gigs took the Bright Side Festival to the Jewel Paradise Cove in Runaway Bay, with reggae music the featured genre for the second consecutive year.

As customary, the hotel was booked out exclusively for fans of the festival, which was held from January 9-13 and which featured the High Times Cannabis Lounge.

Local and international acts – Rebelution, Jah 9, Lutan Fyah, Native Wayne, Earthkry, Alborosie and Common Kings – along with DJ Mackle, kept the mostly California crowd entertained.

There were multiple performances by the artistes over the five days. In addition, there were acoustic performances by Eric Rachmany, lead singer of Rebelution, and Kyle Ahern, guitarist with the band.

Reggae singer Lila Ike and actress Sheryl Lee Ralph were among the few Jamaicans who visited the Bright Side Festival

Rachmany, whose band Rebelution was making their second successive appearance on the show, said the aggregation was happy to be in Jamaica again and is trying to be at the Rebel Salute show for next year.

Alborosie, who performed with his band Shengen Clan, told Hospitality Jamaica, “It was very good, I enjoyed myself,” after exiting the stage.

Media liaison for the festival, Sean ‘Contractor’ Edwards, hailed the event a success

“The festival went great,” Edwards said. “It was incident-free, lots of clean, wholesome reggae music, and all the fans were very happy.”