Steel Pulse / Long Beach Dub Allstars / Eli-Mac / Common Sense

About this show

Hailing from Birmingham, England, Steel Pulse emerged in 1975 with music that provokes thought toward global unification. Songs like “Chant a Psalm” have landed on Rolling Stone’s Top 200 Best Songs of the 1980s list, and the six-time Grammy-nominated group won the Grammy for Best Reggae Album for “Babylon the Bandit.” Steel Pulse songs and lyrics continue to engage controversial topics of racial injustice and human rights on a global scale, with themes as potent and relevant today as they were at the beginning of their career. Lead singer and guitarist David Hinds’ creativity and visionary views are revealed through inspiring compositions that capture the effects of the African diaspora. As reggae revolutionaries, Steel Pulse is revered by the younger generation of artists and remains a powerhouse on stages around the globe. Today’s generation of reggae-rock fans may not fully understand how critical Long Beach Dub Allstars was to the reggae-rock genre, following Sublime’s conclusion in 1996. They played at a time when social media was non-existent. Live-videos of their early performances are mostly of grainy VHS quality, while most live-photos shot by fans were with throw-away cameras. There was no Youtube, Facebook, and this was before Myspace or even iTunes. They were the torch bearers of a genre that Sublime introduced and the original ‘Dub Allstars lineup included most of the players who were involved in cultivating that Reggae-Rock sound with Brad Nowell. Seeing them reunite and perform new music after a 15-year absence is exciting. Together these musical professors and legends from Long Beach have engineered a new studio album that adds to the legacy of Long Beach Dub Allstars. The 2023 release, "Echo Mountain High," rolls through the mountainside with some wild contact highs along the way with songs about youth, ghosts, police brutality, love, hate, life, death and mushrooms. Eli-Mac’s story reads like a fairy tale, a musical journey turned impressive career that took flight with the debut release of her hit EP, “Dubstop EP.” A proud Filipino who grew up in Hawaii, Eli-Mac was a rebel early on, combining her island music roots with her love of R&B and hip-hop. At 18, her journey took shape when she landed on season 3 of the hit TV show “American Idol.” From there, she recorded a version of Bob Marley’s “Guava Jelly,” produced by his son, Stephen Marley. The track earned her the Hawaii Music Awards’ Single of the Year. Since then, Eli-Mac has toured relentlessly across the U.S. and beyond. Your concert ticket includes same-day Fair admission. So arrive early and stay late.