Loreley Summer Jam 1988 with James Brown – Sly&Robbie

James Brown, Sly Dunbar & Robbie Shakespeare, King Sunny Ade, Eek-A-Mouse, Jamaica Papa Curvin and many more at the Loreley Summer Jam in St. Goarshausen in Western Germany 1988

I was in the audience at the Loreley Summer Jam 1988 in St. Goarshausen in the region of Nordrhein-Westfalen in Germany on second and third of July in 1988. With such artists like:

James Brown, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, King Sunny Ade, Eek-A-Mouse, Jamaica Papa Curvin, Vitamin X (those I clearly remember). I don’t remember to have seen the shows of Burning Spear and Ziggy Marley And The Melody Makers.

To find St. Goarshausen wasn’t easy at that time. I was coming from Berlin by train. But the region was beautiful and to arrive at the festival site was amazing. What a few.

I was upset to find out, that many of the artists won’t come. And it was especially Bunny Wailer I wanted to see. Alpha Blondy didn’t made it either and Yellowman as well. But Yellowman I have seen as my very first reggae concert in 1984 in Zurich.

Sunday after noon I had to leave at some time point to reach my trains to leave the region. I guess it was while King Sunny Ade was on stage. And maybe Ziggy Marley and Burning Spear came later on. I don’t know, because at that time the information system on festivals wasn’t that informative as today.

Again I was all alone on that festival. I had no idea how to sleep. Without sleeping bag nor tent I was looking for some nice people. I was invited to a burning fire where some people hanging out. I remember there was a recorder and they asked me to play on it. I was very shy. Don’t ask me how I slept or when I got up nor where I was at that moment. I haven’t seen those nice people again.

The James Brown show was kind of boring. And it was raining. Not the best festival I was… but it was just a part of my train trip through Europe (by Inter Rail, that was an offer to travel 30 days by train throughout Europe).