In June 2016, amid the breakthrough album Blackbird, nominated for a Grammy for its fusion of reggae, dub, and soul, New Zealand's Fat Freddy's Drop—from Wellington and pioneers of jam sessions in the genre with improvisational horns and bass lines—delivered a climactic performance at Reggae Sun Ska, one of Europe's oldest reggae festivals born in 1992 in Arcachon, France, as a haven for roots music amid Atlantic dunes. Their 90-minute set, brimming with jam explorations and Joe Dickson's emotive vocal surges, spun the beach stage into a tropical cyclone, where island groove gained festival catharsis under summer sun for 40,000 attendees. As a rare artifact of their European triumph, this show affirmed Fat Freddy's Drop's guardianship of reggae heritage, where jams evolve into ritual.