Summer Fusion 2015 | Event Review

Ever since I heard the term Summer Fusion getting tossed, I got really excited to attend and see what the hype is all about, as I have heard numerous people talk about the past events, but I never had the opportunity to attend any.

This year, I was all set and ready for Summer Fusion and I intended not to miss a moment, especially with a lineup so diverse. Therefore, I arrived as early as I could to Mocean beach resort, where the event was taking place. Although the crowd was somehow shy at that time of the day, the energy was already positive. The bands were getting ready, people were excited about the event (this is a comeback after a 5-year hibernation after all), and everyone was enjoying the pool, music, and small chats thrown in here and there.

Roy Naufal and Joe Abdel Sater performing from within the crowd Photo by Fadl Abou Rjeily

Rachelle Kiame was the opening act of this year’s Summer Fusion, opening the event with some soft pop tunes followed by Safaydon who delivered a very energetic performance, getting most of the crowd dancing, jumping, and singing along. Megatherium proved to give a stale performance, and played no originals. That was soon fixed with Homesick, who got the crowd going and gave a solid performance. They just have this aura where you feel like you’re blasting your favorite 80’s rock album on your car radio. The same energy was kept throughout the next few performances from Jack Haddad’s Lucky Strikes, performing originals and even a cover of “Roadhouse Blues”, to Alan Abi’s amazing blues (he is truly one of a kind). Generation Zee (took the stage after Homesick) played well, but it wasn’t something that made me want to go and watch front row, it rather fits the background better. Rasta Beirut then played some really chill-out reggae music at sunset, cooling the crowd down a bit, as the lineup was going to turn heavy. After Rasta Beirut, the bands set the crowd on fire, creating mosh pits here with some very serious head banging.

And just to tease those who didn’t attend, here are five of the coolest things you missed:

Bandage performing Rammstein’s Du Hast and Megadeth’s Symphony of Destruction (this is when the first mosh pit opened)
Blood Ink/Element 26 throwing the crowd into a frenzy with almost every song they played, especially when the band left the stage and joined the crowd to play in-between them
Blaakyum’s Lord of the Ring-themed intro (Bassem Deaibess cosplayed as a Nazgul), and the song Freedom Denied which saw the crowd dancing Dabke (thanks to the magical performance of percussionist Elie Abdo)
Turbulence’s insanely energetic performance, mostly thanks to Owmar’s stage presence, really did a good job interacting with the band and audience – and let’s not forget those solos!
In Sanity Q: That’s all I have to say, they gave a show that I’ve never seen the likes of before, but while I was impressed, the crowd got considerably smaller, but this might be because of the late hour. April also suffered from a small crowd.

April closed the night with a stellar rendition of Porcupine Tree’s “Open Car”, along with originals from their EP and a new unnamed original.

The bottom line is that Summer Fusion was RockRing’s comeback into the scene and they gave us a very clear message, “we still have it”.