Brighton Jams a.k.a. The Jam Central Band

Concorde 2's free "Notting Hill Carnival Alternative" day with Jamaican barbecue, kids area and loads of great music. The atmosphere was lively and sunny inside and outside on the seafront. With the superb Andy Baron & Concrete Johnson headlining, plus support from Aces Crew and a whole host of local talent, this was a proper carnival day out Brighton style.

Brighton Jams (billed as 'Jam Central') played the usual blend of improvised danceable funk, reggae & ska, at around 4pm on the main stage.

With the consumate Paul 'MC Elemental' Alborough and the pro-as-ever Nou on vocals, and after a really inspiring practice jam a few days earlier, we all had really high hopes for this gig. Sadly some of us felt we let ourselves down by being a bit too wasted after a long bank-holiday weekend of partying. On top of this we were plagued by difficulties with the sound and didn't even get a sound check - we started playing as soon as we got on the stage. The result was somewhat less inspiring and tightly performed as other gigs we've done, however we still drew the biggest crowd of the afternoon so far.

Most of the crowd probably didn't realise we were making it up on the spot, which explains the puzzled looks we received after each slightly shambolic ending, nevertheless our contribution to the afternoon definitely moved things along in the right direction and after looking at these photos & video clips you can decide for yourselves.