On Wednesday August 6, under a hot afternoon sun, Tarrus Riley and The Black Soil Band transformed Albany’s Empire State Plaza into a rallying point for unity, rhythm and realignment.
The final performance of the 2025 Capitol Concert series was not only a celebration, it was a recalibration. A moment of collective breath in a world choking on political noise.
The date carried weight, as August 6 is Jamaican Independence Day. The music didn’t ignore Its significance, it leaned in. Carrying the weight of history, liberation and pride, not as a backdrop, but as fuel.
Riley didn’t take the stage to go through the motions. He showed up to remind people what reggae was built for: restoration and resistance.
Before Riley even touched the mic, the afternoon was set in motion by The Meditations, whose legendary harmonies and unmistakable roots energy anchored the day.
Their chants of the mantra “Roots, Rock, Reggae” echoed through the plaza as an invocation, laying down a foundation that Riley would later build on with power and precision.
Opening their set was Dean Fraser with an absolutely stunning rendition of the Jamaican National Anthem on the saxophone.
From the first beat, the Black Soil Band came in tight, clean and focused. Driving, but never overplaying. There was no excess here, no wasted movement. Just precision and purpose. Riley matched that energy with a presence that was both commanding and completely grounded. No ego, just a message.
Throughout the afternoon, he kept circling back to a mantra: “Roots. Rock. Reggae.” He had the crowd repeat it. Loud. Over and over. Not as a throwback, but as a declaration. A reminder. This is the foundation. This was a healing and a healing that was needed.
In a year marked by rising tensions, cultural division and an overwhelming sense of disconnection, Riley’s set felt like something rare: a shared experience that didn’t demand agreement — just attention. The crowd responded in kind. Strangers danced together. Families found time and space for presence, in the present. Flags waved. People exhaled.
There were no gimmicks. No forced hype. Riley wasn’t there to entertain for the sake of noise. He brought something deeper. Something that speaks to pain without exploiting it. Something that allowed joy to exist next to struggle without denying either.
“Music is healing” wasn’t just the attitude, it was a responsibility. One that Tarrus Riley doesn’t take lightly.
It’s easy for outdoor summer shows to drift into background noise. But this wasn’t that. This was locked-in, eyes-up, heart-open music. It asked people to feel something, not for the cameras, but for each other.
By the end, the energy in the plaza was different. Not hyped, but aligned. Not escapist, but grounded. The show didn’t erase what’s wrong with the world. But it reminded everyone of what’s still possible within it.
This performance was the culmination of a Capitol Concert Series that had welcomed an eclectic mix of rock bands to the Plaza stage. In a time when division is often front and center, closing out the series with roots and reggae, felt intentional. It was a full-circle moment. A celebration. A cleansing.
The 2025 summer concert series couldn’t have asked for a more fitting close. No fireworks. No overproduced spectacle. Just one of reggae’s modern voices, standing in the sun, saying what needed to be said and letting the rhythm do the rest.
Tarrus Riley didn’t just perform. He held space for a couple hours in Albany. That was exactly what people needed.
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