Pepper parties hard at sold out St. Pete show

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon in downtown St. Petersburg, the big green buses rolled up to Jannus Live to start unloading the monsters of American reggae all the way from Hawaii — Pepper! Also along at the sold out show were some younger bands escalating in the American reggae music scene, Kash’d Out and The Elovaters. As they warmed up and got ready to throw down, the fans were lining up all the way down the block, waiting for gates to open and to fill the place to the maximum capacity for what was sure to be an epic night of reggae music. A sure crowd-pleaser, Pepper was definitely in the house!

Kicking off the night was The Elovaters, setting the mood with some mind-relaxing reggae that had everyone swaying together and singing along as they played some of our favorites from their Defy Gravity album and more. This incredible band from Boston is made up of Jackson Wetherbee, Matt Link, John Alves, Greg Nectow and Nicholas Asta, all of which put on an awesome show leaving everyone pumped up for more. The Elovaters is definitely a band you need to check out if you don’t know of them already!

We cannot wait to have this Hawaiian band back in Florida — the sooner the better!

The packed venue started screaming for local band from Orlando, Kash’d Out. As they walked out, pumping the crowd up more and grabbing their instruments the place went crazy. The band is made up of lead singer Greg Shields (also on rhythm guitar), Jackson Hauserman (lead guitar and also vocals), Nick Gudzan (on keys and also vocals), Joey Brohawn (on bass) and Marshall Hearne (on drums). They rocked Jannus Live with some of our favorites from their Undercover album! The crowd was dancing and singing along to “Yes I” and other favorites, as smoke filled the air. Make sure to check this band out — fire music and great show!

Last, but never least, Pepper danced out onto the stage and the crowd went wild with excitement, considering this 23-year-old band is still smashing venues with sold out amazing shows. Pepper is a three-piece band, exploding with energy from the moment they hit the stage until they leave it. They put on an amazing show, using their instruments as props and simply awing the crowd with the amount of energy they bring to the stage. With Bret Bollinger on bass, Kaleo Wassman on guitar and Yesod Williams on drums, all of these monsters rock on vocals. They played songs from the latest album, Local Motion, and many others. Pepper brought The Elovaters out with them to sing in place of Stick Figure for “Warning” and Jackson Wetherbee did an awesome job. Next, they brought Kash’d Out back to sing “Neighborhood”; it’s always a sick show when bands join together. You never know what you will see at a Pepper show and no matter how many shows you go to, it never gets old. We cannot wait to have this Hawaiian band back in Florida — the sooner the better! Don’t miss this tour, with these humble amazing musicians.

Photography by Brian “Porkchop” Nicholson

Share this article

or