Positive Vibration - Festival of Reggae is a festival based in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

(UK), which celebrates and showcases

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

music and

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

n culture. The festival originated in 2013 as a smaller event held at The Kazimier Garden, before moving to the

Baltic Triangle The Baltic Triangle is an area of Liverpool city centre defined by Liverpool City Council as the triangular portion of the city bounded by Liver Street, Park Lane, St James Street, Hill Street, Sefton Street and Wapping. In 2020, the area was h ...

in 2015. In 2016, it expanded into a full two-day festival, marking a significant step in its growth. Since then, Positive Vibration has continued to establish itself as a key reggae festival in the UK, attracting renowned artists and celebrating the influence of Jamaican culture through music, arts, and workshops.

Line Ups

* 2016:

Mad Professor Neil Joseph Stephen Fraser (born 27 March 1955, Georgetown, Guyana) known by his stage-name Mad Professor, is a British dub music producer, engineer and remixer. He has collaborated with reggae artists Lee "Scratch" Perry, Sly and Robbie, ...

Don Letts Donovan Letts (born 10 January 1956) is a British film director, disc jockey (DJ) and musician. Letts first came to prominence as the videographer for the Clash, directing several of their music videos. In 1984, Letts co-founded the band Big Au ...

Trojan Records Trojan Records is a British record label founded by Jamaican Duke Reid, Lee Gopthal and Chris Blackwell in 1968. It specialises in ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub music. The label currently operates under the Sanctuary Records Group. Th ...

Sound System,

DJ Vadim Vadim Alexandrovich Peare (), known professionally as DJ Vadim, is a Russian-British DJ and record producer. Born in Saint Petersburg and raised in London, Peare is additionally a promoter, record collector, radio presenter, occasional painter ...

Levi Tafari Levi Tafari is a British poet and performer. He was born and raised in the city of Liverpool by his Jamaican parents. He attended catering college, where he studied classical French cuisine and graduated with distinction. In the early 1980s, w ...

, Cut Capers, Shanty, Backbeat Sound System, Solko, Kioko, Rumjig * 2017:

The Selecter The Selecter is an English 2 tone ska revival band, formed in Coventry, England, in 1979. The Selecter featured a diverse line-up, both in terms of race and gender, initially consisting of Arthur 'Gaps' Hendrickson and Pauline Black on lead ...

Jah Shaka Jah Shaka ( – 12 April 2023), also known as the Zulu Warrior, was a Jamaican reggae/dub sound system operator who operated a South East London-based, roots reggae Jamaican sound system since the early 1970s. His name is an amalgamation of the ...

Scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...

, Channel One Sound System,

, Reggae Roast,

Aba Shanti-I Aba Shanti-I (born Joseph Smith) is a sound system operator and dub producer from the UK. Aba and his sound system have been playing through UK and Europe for over 30 years. He has been a resident sound system at Notting Hill Carnival since 199 ...

, Earl Gateshead, MC Brother Culture, Prince Fatty, Horseman, Vibronics,

Dennis Bovell Dennis Bovell (born 22 May 1953) is a Barbados-born reggae guitarist, bass player and record producer, based in the United Kingdom. He was a member of a progressive rock group called Stonehenge, who later changed name and became the British r ...

, Saxon Sound System, Sir Coxsone Outernational Sound System, Dubmatix, Soul Jazz Records Sound System, DJ Andy Smith, Hempolics, Mykaell Riley, John Robb,

, Sinai Sound System, I-mitri CounterAction, New Town Kings, Backbeat Sound System,

Ras Kwame Ras Kwame is a British musician, record producer, radio DJ and presenter of Ghanaian heritage."'We ...

, Mount Nakara, One A Penny Sound System, Western Promise, Golty Farabeau * 2018:

Lee "Scratch" Perry Lee "Scratch" Perry (born Rainford Hugh Perry; 20 March 1936 – 29 August 2021) was a Jamaican record producer, songwriter and singer noted for his innovative studio techniques and production style. Perry was a pioneer in the 1970s development ...

Subatomic Sound System Subatomic Sound System was founded in 1999 by Emch and Noah Shachtman it is an American record label and collective of musicians, producers, DJs, and visual artists from a variety of backgrounds and traditions. In late 2008 the Subatomic Soun ...

Roni Size Ryan Owen Granville Williams (born 29 October 1969), better known by his stage name Roni Size, is an English DJ and record producer. He came to prominence in 1997 as the founder and frontman of Roni Size & Reprazent, a drum and bass collective. ...

Macka B Christopher MacFarlane, better known as Macka B, (born 1966) is a British-born Jamaican reggae artist, performer and activist with a career spanning thirty years and one of Britain's most influential dancehall DJs. As a practicing Rastaman, Ma ...

Sister Nancy Ophlin Russell (born on 2 January 1962), better known as Sister Nancy (or Muma Nancy), is a Jamaican dancehall DJ and singer. She is known as the first female dancehall DJ and was described as being a "dominating female voice for over two dec ...

+ Legal Shot Sound System,

Adrian Sherwood Adrian Maxwell Sherwood (born 20 January 1958) is an English record producer specialising in the genre of dub music. He has created a distinctive production style based on the application of dub effects and dub mixing techniques to other forms ...

+ Creation Rebel,

Mungo's Hi Fi Mungo's Hi Fi is a sound system based in Glasgow, Scotland, which follows the original Jamaican sound system tradition. After working together previously, Tom Tattersall and Doug Paine founded the group in 2000, writing, recording, producing ...

+ Eva Lazarus,

Dub Pistols Dub Pistols are an English electronic music band founded in 1996 by Barry Ashworth and Jason O'Bryan. Career The band's first singles were "There's Gonna Be a Riot" and "Best Got Better" in 1998. Their first album, '' Point Blank'', came ou ...

, Channel One Sound System,

Dreadzone Dreadzone are a British electronic music group formed in 1993 in London by ex-Big Audio Dynamite drummer Greg Roberts and musician Tim Bran. They have released nine studio albums, two live albums, and two compilations. They gained a reputatio ...

, Iration Steppas w/ Murray Man, Misty in Roots, Capital Letters, Brukout feat. Rory Stone Love + Seani B,

Carroll Thompson Carroll Thompson is a British lovers rock singer, best known as the "Queen of Lovers Rock" Biography Thompson was born in England and is of Jamaican descent. Thompson undertook classical piano training on the piano and sang in school and chur ...

, Horseman, King Lorenzo, The Upper Cut Band,

, Blacker Dread, Manudigital, Parly B, Dubkasm, Solo Banton, Radikal Guru, Echo Ranks, Cian Finn, Sinai Sound System,

Resonators A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance or resonant behavior. That is, it naturally oscillates with greater amplitude at some frequencies, called resonant frequencies, than at other frequencies. The oscillations in a resonat ...

, Tru Thoughts Records w/

Rodney P Rodney Panton, also known as Rodney P (born in Balham, London, 12 December 1969) is an English MC, as well as a radio and television personality who first gained attention via the UK hip hop scene in the 1980s. A former member of UK hip-hop gro ...

DJ Skitz DJ Skitz or Skitz is a British DJ and music producer. He was born in 1970 in Cambridgeshire and started DJing in 1991. He has compiled a number of British hip hop compilations and other hip hop compilations. Along with Rodney P, he produced th ...

, Wrongtom,

, John Robb, Samson Sounds, Dr Les Henry, Count Skylarkin, The Majestic, Baked A La Ska, Ruff Trade * 2019: Fallow year * 2020: Due to the disruption caused by Covid-19, the festival was postponed until 2021. *2021:

Asian Dub Foundation Asian Dub Foundation (ADF) is an English electronic music band that combines musical styles including rap rock, dub, dancehall, ragga, ReggaeEDM, and South Asian music. The group also includes traditional rock instruments such as electric bas ...

The Twinkle Brothers The Twinkle Brothers are a Jamaican reggae band formed in 1962, and still active in the 21st century under Norman Grant's lead. History The Twinkle Brothers were formed in 1962 by brothers Norman (vocals, drums) and Ralston Grant (vocals, rhythm ...

Ft. Sister Aisha,

Gentleman's Dub Club Gentleman's Dub Club are a British Dub music, dub band, originating from Leeds, Yorkshire. Biography Having built a reputation for delivering energetic live shows, the group has played for crowds from Goa to Glastonbury Festival, Glastonbury, B ...

Dawn Penn Dawn Penn (born 11 January 1952) is a Jamaican reggae singer. She first had a short career during the rocksteady era from 1967 to 1969, but she is most known for her single " You Don't Love Me (No, No, No)", which became a worldwide hit in 1994. ...

Hollie Cook Hollie Cook (born 1987, West London, England) is an English singer and keyboardist. She was part of the final line-up of all-female punk/reggae band the Slits. From 2010, Cook has also had a career as solo artist working with producer and songw ...

Zion Train Zion Train are a British Dub music, dub ensemble that formed in Oxford, 1988. They have consistently released music and toured from 1992 to present day. Their mix of reggae and dance music was a notable innovation in the early 1990s. History ...

Tippa Irie Tippa Irie (born Anthony Henry, 1965, London, England) is a British reggae singer and DJ from Brixton, South London. He first came to prominence in the early 1980s as an MC on the South London reggae soundsystem Saxon Studio International. He f ...

, Congo Natty Ft. Congo Dubz & Iron Dread,

General Levy Paul Scott Levy (born 28 April 1971), also known as General Levy, is an English ragga deejay, regularly employed on studio tracks by drum and bass DJs. He is best known for the track "Incredible" which he recorded with M-Beat. A remixed version ...

& Joe Ariwa,

, Channel One, Horseman & The Upper Cut Band,

Ft. Charlie P,

Benjamin Zephaniah Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah (15 April 1958 – 7 December 2023) was a British writer, dub poet, actor, musician and professor of poetry and creative writing. Over his lifetime, he was awarded 20 honorary doctorates in recognition of his c ...

& The Revolutionary Minds, Ruts DC, Kiko Bun, From the Specials -

Neville Staple Neville Eugenton Staple (born 11 April 1955), sometimes credited as Neville Staples, is a Jamaican-born British singer, known for his work with the 2-tone ska band the Specials, the pop group Fun Boy Three, as well as with his own group, th ...

Band,

Krafty Kuts Krafty Kuts (real name Martin Reeves) is an English producer and DJ of electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or g ...

Ft.

Dynamite MC Dynamite MC (born Dominic Smith, 7 October 1973) is an English rapper and MC. He originally gained prominence in jungle/drum and bass, working with Roni Size & Reprazent, but has also released hip hop material. Career He started his MCing ca ...

Jah Wobble John Joseph Wardle (born 11 August 1958), known by the stage name Jah Wobble, is an English bass guitarist and singer. He became known to a wider audience as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd (PiL) in the late 1970s and early 1980s; ...

& The Invaders of the Heart, Iration Steppas Ft. Murray Man,

The Nextmen The Nextmen is a UK production/songwriting/DJ duo consisting of Dom Search (a.k.a. Dominic Betmead) and Brad Baloo (a.k.a. Brad Ellis). They combine hip hop music, hip hop, Drum and bass, drum & bass, Dub music, dub, Pop music, pop, Soul musi ...

Ft. Gardna, DJ Vadim Ft. Jman, O.B.F Ft. Sr. WIlson, Sinai Sound System, KIOKO, Aleighcia Scott, Future Dub Orchestra, Oxman, Adam Prescott, Dub Link Up Ft. MC Mad-X, Count Skylarkin', Kingston Express, Levi Tafari, Rubber Dub

Awards

* Winner of the UK's Best New Festival Award 2016 (UK Festival Awards)

References

Music festivals in Merseyside {{UK-festival-stub