Dub vets Scientist and the Roots Radics took over this year’s Dub Champion Fest—Amy Wachtel reports
Like any respectable “creature of the night,” I got to BB Kings just before the bewitching hour of midnight, an appropriate hour for both vampires and night nurses. Deadly Dragon’s sound system filled the air with the sounds of drum, bass & dub recordings. Remembering that Scientist’s jackhammer style of mixing tends to be on the LOUD side, I uncharacteristically put in a pair of earplugs. I even carried an extra set. On the second of five nights at this year’s Dub Champion Festival, the iconic dub chemist Scientist (seen above in NYC, Fall 1988) and dub innovators the Roots Radics band blessed the stage and, joined by the great reggae and dancehall vocalist Johnny Osbourne, put on a show for the ages. Before the concert even began, the energy was palpable throughout the subterranean building as anticipation was through the roof. This was the kind of reggae show that crossed, and then collapsed, the Time-Space continuum by bringing out veterans and old timers, alongside a more current regime of reggae aficionados and dubheads. Video and photos from the performance after the jump.
