The Skatalites in Sydney
April 21st 2006 12:52
Wed April 19th @ the Basement.
Lester Sterling stated on Wednesday night that Bob Marley had said the Skatalites were the best reggae band ever and after Wednesday night you’d have to agree with him. Who’d have thought that the first ska band, therefore the first reggae band, would ever come to my hometown? I’m glad they did, even if it only contained two members who were there at the start when the band formed in the early sixties.
A large contingent of the Sydney ska/reggae scene gathered beforehand at a great pub in the rocks called the Fortune of War to warm up with a few beers. We moved on to the Basement shortly before Sydney reggae band King Tide took to the stage. They are a good Sydney band mixing up roots reggae and upbeat covers including a couple of Toots and the Maytals songs. The period between them finishing and the Skatalites coming on seemed long, but eventually they took to the stage and I was in heaven.
They started with the well known Freedom Sounds and the crowd didn’t stop moving for the next two hours. Highlights of their set were Confucius, Guns of Navarone, Eastern Standard Time, James Bond – who am I kidding they were all good. It did reach a new level when long serving Jamaican vocalist Doreen Schaffer joined the band on stage to slow it down and when she did Sugar Sugar and Nice Time, my heart melted. Having spoken to others the consensus was that she really was the icing on the cake.
The Basement is normally a small jazz venue and I'd say it has been a while since it saw such energetic dancing and such big smiles on crowd member's faces. Definitely gig of the year.
Check out a whole set of photos from the gig here
Lester Sterling stated on Wednesday night that Bob Marley had said the Skatalites were the best reggae band ever and after Wednesday night you’d have to agree with him. Who’d have thought that the first ska band, therefore the first reggae band, would ever come to my hometown? I’m glad they did, even if it only contained two members who were there at the start when the band formed in the early sixties.
A large contingent of the Sydney ska/reggae scene gathered beforehand at a great pub in the rocks called the Fortune of War to warm up with a few beers. We moved on to the Basement shortly before Sydney reggae band King Tide took to the stage. They are a good Sydney band mixing up roots reggae and upbeat covers including a couple of Toots and the Maytals songs. The period between them finishing and the Skatalites coming on seemed long, but eventually they took to the stage and I was in heaven.
The Skatalites
The Basement is normally a small jazz venue and I'd say it has been a while since it saw such energetic dancing and such big smiles on crowd member's faces. Definitely gig of the year.
Check out a whole set of photos from the gig here
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