As part of The London Int’l Ska Festival 2026 this Easter (4th April), we celebrate the 60th anniversary of Rock Steady with a once in a lifetime Thames cruise on the beautiful Dixie Queen paddle steamer!
With the first Rock Steady songs being released in 1966, we couldn’t miss the opportunity to shine a light on Ska’s first evolution step towards Reggae, and it’s 60th anniversary!
Rock Steady is arguably the most soulful of all Jamaican musical genres, which was ruled stars such as Alton Ellis, Ken Boothe, Phyllis Dillon, Derrick Hariott and Prince Buster, and we’re delighted to be hosting 4 stars of the era!
The phenomenal duo – Keith & Tex, best known for their Derrick Harriot produced; Stop That Train, Tonight and Don’t Look Back, share the headline billing with ska & rocksteady pioneers – Roy Panton & Yvonne Harrison.
Roy & Vyonne are amongst only 4 of the artists left who performed on the 1964 Jamaican film ‘This Is Ska’, which also starred Buster, Toots & The Maytals, Jimmy Cliff, and Byron Lee. Infact Yvonne was the only female on the show! True ska pioneers indeed, but for examples of their sublime rock steady work look no further than Roy’s Endless Memory and Yvonne’s The Chase (with Tommy McCook!)
DJ’s for the afternoon cruise are Oxman (Soho Radio) and flying in from Berlin, Freddy Reggae (Rudeboydreams crew).
All onboard the beautiful Dixie Queen paddles steamer (1-5pm). They even open Tower Bridge for us.
Tickets/full information for this show and all other LISF2026 events are available HERE.
