Collie Buddz and Gappy Ranks in Hollywood

By Jan Salzman on Sunday, November 20, 2011 - Photos by Jan Salzman - Comment

Collie Buddz and Gappy Ranks ith New Kingston Band played at Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, California on October 29, 2011.

Sampler

It was a cool California evening in West Hollywood, but things were soon to heat up inside the famed Roxy Theatre. Opening the night’s musical performances was New Kingston Band, residing in New York the three “brothers”, Courtney M. Panton, singing drummer, Tahir Panton, singing keyboardist and Stephen Suckarie, lead vocals and guitar, rocked the house with tunes from their debut album 'In the Streets'. The young trio really drives the reggae riddim! New Kingston are all excellent musicians and vocalists providing all the elements of a great reggae performance including some great flashing dreadlocks! Their energetic performance preceded Gappy Ranks and they would later be the backing band for Collie Buddz set.

Gappy Ranks, hailing from the UK was next up. Born of a Jamaican father and a Dominican mother, Gappy sings and chats great dancehall music. Performing with the sound system and a mix master, he thrilled the crowd with songs from his two albums, 'Put the Stereo On' and 'Thanks and Praise'. My favorites of the evening were his hit, Heaven In My Eyes, Put the Stereo On and his adaption of Bob Marley’s Soul Rebel.

Collie Buddz setlist After a brief intermission of about thirty minutes, the curtains came up again. The members of New Kingston trickled back onto the stage. Hypeman, and sidekick to Collie Buddz, DJ Pee Wee came out to rev up the near capacity crowd. Pee Wee directed the crowd on how to bring Collie onstage with the statement, “When I say Collie, you say Buddz! Collie-Buddz, Collie-Buddz,” complied the audience. Collie bounded onstage to a feverish pitch with Mister Harper, of course, that’s also who he is! With his reggae singjay style, Collie worked all sides of the stage in his oh, so charming ways singing to the lineup of pretty girls who skirted the whole stage. By the third song Collie dipped into the tracks of his much acclaimed 2007 album 'Collie Buddz', with his song Let Me Know. Audiences all over the world sing along with his lyrics and LA proved to be among the best at not dropping a word! This brought lots of smiles from Collie. I was able to retrieve a set list from the stage at the end of the night so all of our readers can check the list for their favorite songs. Collie closed the main portion of his set blasting out his one drop anthem Come Around. We all brought him back onstage again with the same refrain…Collie-Buddz! Collie-Buddz! The audience was treated to four more songs ending with his mega hit Blind to You. He had everyone in the house hold up the middle fingers to the “haters” of the world. Always a bit controversial, he was speaking to an adult crowd. Collie did a medley at the end of the night of old reggae dancehall hits. I wasn’t able to catch the titles, but it was fun for all. Completely satisfied from the show I packed up my photo gear and headed backstage to say hi and complement everyone on the exceptional performances. There was positive vibes all around. I headed home listening to Collie’s Playback EP.