Rootsriders and Melkweg are certainly no strangers to one another: Back in 2006 (!) we've performed here for the very first time (albeit in a completely different line up).
In 2025 it will be 50 years since The Wailers released their first-ever live album, simply called LIVE! It includes the iconic version of No Woman No Cry which was released as a single helping the album to sell over 1 million copies worldwide of which 100.000 in the Netherlands alone. Impressive numbers for a reggae (live) album.
Every year Rootsriders perform at the Melkweg on May 11th not only to commemorate his passing that day in 1981 but also to celebrate his incredible legacy.
Rootsriders are an Amsterdam-based Dutch/Caribbean band who were formed in 2006. Through the years the band became a fixture on the Dutch music scene and far beyond: from the Caribbean to Istanbul and from New York to Johannesburg, where they had the honor to perform during the official FIFA 2010 World Cup final halftime show for over 100.000 people.
Singer Mo Ali from Sudan, Africa is their current lead singer who the band found, as it happens nowadays, through social media.
MO ALI - LEAD VOCAL
JESSE BONGER - DRUMS
HUEY BUITENDORP - GUITAR
FELITCIANO BURNETT - KEYS
ERNO KLEIN - KEYS
DERRICK-EE - BASS
MARISE VARELA - HARMONY VOCAL
SHIRLEY SPOOR - HARMONY VOCAL
TJERK SCHOONHEIM - LEAD VOCAL (HENNY SHOWS)
MANAGEMENT:
ROOTSRIDERS SRL
