A near-capacity audience streamed into Hope Botanical Gardens on Saturday evening for a live concert produced by the environmental group, Plant a Tree Foundation.
They saw three bands representing different genres and generations of Jamaican music — No-Maddz, Mystic Revealers and Rootz Underground
No-Maddz from Bull Bay, who opened the show, delivered a well-received fusion set of reggae, jazz and world beat.
Reggae-rock unit Rootz Underground, arguably the best known of the bands that have emerged in Jamaica during the past decade, were typically high-energy.
But it was another Bull Bay band, the veteran Mystic Revealers, who stood out.
Making their first local appearance in 15 years, the quintet with three original members, dished out a solid serving of traditional roots-reggae.
“Wi rehearsing for the last two weeks an’ wi still trying to find a soun’,” lead singer/guitarist Anthony ‘Billy Mystic’ Wilmot told the audience shortly taking the stage.
There were glimpses of that stage rust, but the crowd warmed to a performance built around songs from their heyday of the 1990s.
The quintet’s strongest moments came in the last 25 minutes when they did Saw You Smiling, their first hit, which Wilmot dedicated to his wife of 32 years.
That was followed by the rocking Dem Problem and Religion featuring deejay Sojah.
The late flourish earned them an encore, which they performed Judgement Day.
The event was staged to build awareness about the importance of tree-planting to the environment.
