Photo by Flying Fitz Photography

Rootfire is giving away a pair of VIP passes to Point Break Festival 2025. Enter below.

As my dog and I crunch through the ice-crusted snow and the wind whips at my face during what has been one of the colder Northeastern winters in recent memory, I find myself daydreaming about the upcoming summer. I picture myself attending a live music event, the orange sun creeping slowly below the horizon as the breeze gently caresses my brow. Reggae music pumps out of the amplifiers, its one-drop beat synchronizing with that of my heart, dependably pushing the blood through my body. Next, I envision swimming in the temperate waters of the Atlantic Ocean, the salty surf washing over me, cleansing the sweat from my skin. Finally, my visions merge, and I’m listening to uplifting reggae music on the beach, immersed in reverie with fellow jubilant festivalgoers donned in red, gold and green.

On June 21st and 22nd, these yearnings can become a reality at the Point Break Festival in Virginia Beach. Yes!  A reggae festival on the beach – something that is sadly not as prevalent as one might expect. Thinking back to how many reggae festivals I’ve been to, bundled up in a hoodie, it makes the idea of toes in the sand on a hot beach even more appealing. While festivalgoers cannot swim from within the concert area, with exit and reentry permitted, a few steps beyond the entrance revelers can refresh themselves with dips in the ocean. Point Break for the win!  

An abundance of oceanfront hotels within a short walking distance offer another boon for the Point Break festival, making it incredibly easy to access on foot or bike.  Adding to that, my Rootfire colleague, a Virginia native who attended last year’s inaugural event, mentioned that the festival had “nice touches like shade canopies between the two stages where you can post up and cool off.” She also lauded that there was “tons of space in front of both stages to spread out while still being able to enjoy the music – either standing or on your blanket or towel.” Sometimes it’s these little things that elevate an experience from good to great.

Of course, none of this really matters if the lineup doesn’t excite people, but that shouldn’t be an issue for Point Break, because for its second year, this up-and-coming festival boasts a killer lineup. Perennial summer tour favorites, Slightly Stoopid and Stick Figure, will headline, with Grammy winners SOJA, reggae rock pioneers 311 and longtime standouts Iration also performing. Point Break will also feature some of the hottest bands in the scene right now such as The Elovaters, The Movement and Tribal Seeds, while surely many fans will flock to see Bermudan dancehall sensation Collie Buddz, ska-punk-reggae rockers Bumpin’ Uglies and hip-hop duo Little Stranger.

Beyond these popular acts, Point Break features additional trending talent over the weekend, including Moon Taxi, Shwayze, Eli-Mac, Aurorawave, Kyle Smith, Jarv, Bikini Trill, and Dale and the ZDubs, plus The Original Wailers playing the timeless songs of Bob Marley, and Roots of Creation performing a cherished “Grateful Dub” set of Grateful Dead music inna reggae stylee. Last but certainly not least, regional favorites One Culture, The Ashley Larue Band and Cultivated Mind will proudly represent their hometown scene.

In fact, it was the Virginia Beach/Hampton Roads reggae community that pushed to get their local bands on the bill. Tony Brand, who releases music professionally as Cultivated Mind and often performs solo around the area, said, “This is our second year in a row where our supporters pushed to get us on this show, and we do not intend to do the same thing as last year. I’ve been doing the loop thing for almost 6-7 years now, but many folks remember the first ten years where we had a band. Since it was the Cultivators that really went hard for us on the event post, we will be bringing back the VA Militia with us this year, and going full band for the first time in a long time as way to say thank you, and also give folks who saw us last year a different experience.”

I asked Brand for some tips for an out-of-towner to get the most out of a visit to Virginia Beach for the weekend, and he told me that after the festival closes each evening, there will be tons of local talent playing at the bars and venues in the area through the midnight hours. He advised to keep a lookout for these shows being posted as the date draws near. “I’d keep an eye out for whatever United Souls Band and Lost Soul Society are doing around that weekend, as well as keep an eye on the Rising Vibes and VB Reggae Facebook pages.” Brand added some other names to his list of acts to look for outside of festival hours, including the days leading up to and after the event: David Cuffee, Native Dread, 7VibeSyndicate, Vince Lee, The Ambassadorzz, Nature’s Child, Trevor Daniel & The Reef, and LionsBridge. (Fans can monitor the Rootfire Concert Calendar to view all of the local events that are happening around the festival that week.)

This robust reggae community makes the perfect environment to host a festival of this magnitude that draws people from up and down the coast and points west.  The grassroots support from this large and enthusiastic fanbase undeniably factors into Point Break’s success, as well as the larger reality that Virginia Beach is one of the strongest markets in the country for the American reggae scene across the board. With attendance dramatically up from this time last year and a strong roster of local partners, Point Break has all the hallmarks of a longstanding event in the making and it feels like it’s definitely becoming THE new festival in the scene for the mid-Atlantic region. 

As Tony Brand said, “I’m just happy that Virginia Beach is becoming a place for people to congregate to hear the message of the music, and Point Break is the beacon for that movement currently.”

Click here for a chance to win (2) WEEKEND VIP PASSES!