Exclusive: Check Surforeggae's official coverage of the tour “Groundation - South America 2007”!

The band Groundation, one of the biggest highlights of the new crop of Reggae World artists, was on its third tour of South American countries last November. The group, which makes a very successful mix of Jazz with Reggae Raiz, visited several Brazilian capitals, such as Salvador, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Maceió and Natal, in addition to Buenos Aires, in Argentina. Surforeggae was represented at the time by Rafael Costa, who was also one of those responsible for the tour. Check out here unpublished photos, videos, and exclusive and complete coverage of everything that happened during the visit of the biggest Reggae band in the USA to South America.

THE BEGINNING

The first show of the tour was scheduled for November 8th, at Niceto Club, the famous concert hall of the beautiful Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina. The group members disembarked two days before the first show, and were received in the best style, making it feel like they were being eagerly awaited by the public. In the first sound check of the tour, the group showed what they came for, playing songs like “Silver Tongue Show” and “Sleeping Bag-o-wire”. On a night when almost all tickets were sold, Buenos Aires once again witnessed the full force of Groundation, represented by Harrison Stafford (vocals and guitar), Marcus Urani (keyboards and melodica), Ryan Newman (bass), Paul Spina (drums), David Chachere (trumpet), Kelsey Howard (trombone), Ben Krames (percussion), Kerry Ann Morgan (backing vocals), Kim Pommel (backing vocals) and Shannon Craig (sound engineer).

BUNNY WAILER

The tour of the living Reggae legend, Bunny Wailer, which was canceled at the last minute, ended up being a bit of a hindrance, as Bunny was about to share the stage with Groundation on a few occasions. As this did not materialize, what would have been the second show of the tour (in Porto Alegre) was canceled by the local production. Therefore, everyone had to go to Rio de Janeiro (the location of the subsequent show) and spend a full Friday without performing.

UNFORGETTABLE SEQUENCE

Having forgotten the setbacks with the cancellation of the show at Porto Alegre, the group made unforgettable performances respectively at Rio de Janeiro and Salvador. At the Rio show, more precisely at Fundição Progresso, the audience was absolutely fantastic, making a deafening noise before, during and at the end of the songs. For this reason, the band performed a double encore and one of the best and most vibrant reggae shows that the writer has ever seen. In Salvador, the band performed the most intimate and lasting show of the entire tour. The most interesting story about this event was that it only happened because of an initiative by a group of fans who were not happy with the fact that Groundation came to Brazil once again and did not play Salvador. These people created a community on Orkut and managed to mobilize a significant amount of fans, which made us really believe that it was possible to do a show independently on Capital Baiana. To complete the happiness of the Bahians (or part of them), bassist Ryan also wore the Bahia shirt during the show, a gift he received from a fan and leader of the Groundation movement in Salvador.

DIVING IN THE NORTHEAST

After Salvador, a sequence of northeastern capitals was yet to come, namely Recife, Maceió, Natal and again Salvador (to perform at Festival República do Reggae, which would have as main attraction Bunny Wailer). Due to the cancellation of Jamaicano's tour, the production of the event at Salvador bet on Groundation and placed them as a worthy attraction to replace the Jamaican legend. Passing through cities like Recife, Maceió and Natal reinforces the fact that these capitals are becoming routes for major international attractions, as was the case with Israel Vibration and Andrew Tosh passing through some of them.

GROUNDATION BEHIND THE CAMERA

The members of Groundation have demonstrated all along that they are highly professional and friendly people, giving very special treatment to all the fans who asked for photos, autographs, CDs, hugs, etc. This is a fact that is not really common among musicians, who generally only pay attention to their fans on concert days (and look there).

ETAPA FINAL

A sequence of four shows, respectively in Porto Alegre, Vitória, São Paulo and Florianópolis, as well as one more in Buenos Aires would end Groundation's visit to South America in 2007. The Porto Alegre show, which had been canceled by the event's production team, had its date rescheduled thanks to many requests from fans who filled the local producer's and our email inbox. Click here and see Groundation live on Vitória with "Picture on the Wall". In Vitória, the show was held in a beautiful place called Ilhacústico, overlooking the sea. The local production set up a very cool structure and welcomed the band and the public, who filled the space, with open arms. In São Paulo the highlight was the large audience that attended, for the important recording of the DVD of the band Jah I Ras, one of the best Root Reggae bands in the São Paulo metropolis and the presence of the band Bless Fya, which has stood out a lot in the São Paulo scene. The show repertoires were not the same on any night. Songs like “Freedom taking over”, “We free again”, “One more day (Live it up)”, “We na forget (Rome)”, “Praising”, “Suffer the right”, “Music is the most high”, “Wish them well”, “Babylon rule dem” and “Picture on the wall”, as well as some covers such as “Marcus Garvey” (Burning Spear), “Cool & Calm” (Israel Vibration) and “Could you be loved” (Bob Marley) were just some of the tracks that made 11 cities happy. Click here and see Groundation live on Expresso with "Could You Be Loved".

DESPEDIDA

Groundation said goodbye to Brazil in 2007 in Florianópolis, for a show with a small but very vibrant audience. The big news is that the band's first DVD will be recorded in Brazil in 2008, without a doubt a gift for the Brazilian people. Everyone (band and crew) returned to their homes on November 29th, leaving people missed wherever they went. Until 2008!

IMAGENS OF THE EVENT

 Click here and see the official photos from Groundation's tour through South America.

MULTIMEDIA

Click here and see Groundation with the clip "Freedom Taking Over".