Originally I was supposed to meet my friend on Saturday evening, but when those plans fell through, I had a free Saturday evening. Only a few days before I had read on an ad that the Rootsriders with their Tribute2BobMarley show would be in a town nearby, so I decided to attend the show.
At first I was planning to go by myself, but when I was about to leave, I spoke to my friend on MSN and he was interested in joining me. So, I drove to Sneek, picked up my friend and we went to the venue, Het Bolwerk.
I saw Rootsriders live in 2007, when they did their Tribute2BobMarley theatre tour. It was a really great concert, though what surprised me was the amount of older people. Sure, Bob Marley’s music attracts people from all sorts of backgrounds and ages, plus the man himself would have been 65 by now if he had still been alive. I just hadn’t expected to see people of 80 years old there. Also on this night was the audience older than at an average night at the Bolwerk (or so I think). There were more 40+ than 30- people so to speak. I realized later that this is probably the same crowd that shows up at a concert of UB40, but not a random underground reggae artist. Oh well…
Anyway, the show started with the opening act by Laurrhie Brouns. She played about four shows, must say I have regained my faith in opening acts again, hehe. Ashwin Jaydee also did a few songs and then several band members from Rootsriders covered Bob Marley songs before the Rootsriders started for real with front man Junior.
I had seen them before so I knew what to expect, and they did not disappoint. Other than his long dreads and outfit, vocalist Junior doesn’t really look like Mr. Marley much, but he definitely sounds like him. I think cover acts are always a little tricky because you’re always going to be compared to the real thing, but I’m pretty sure that everyone present (around 300 people?) were convinced that he did a damn good job. Also his movements and dancing resembled Mr. Marley’s dancing without looking faked or forced at all. The other members of Rootsriders did a great job as well; they’re a bunch of really skilful musicians.
They played various well-known Mr. Marley songs, such as Who The Cap Fit, Give Thanks and Praises, Punky Reggae Party, Kinky Reggae, Concrete Jungle, Exodus, Three Little Birds, Mellow Mood, and of course No Woman No Cry. For the encore, Junior and the guitarist performed Redemption Song together and ended with Could You be Loved.
Above is their remix of Bob Marley’s “Is This Love.” Live they play the songs as close as possible to the originals but I really like this remix.
After the gig I bought their album, So Much More – Songs of Redemption, Part 2, which contains their owns songs and one cover of Is This Love. I’ve been listening to it all day and it’s a great album. So, I’m hoping they’ll be doing some shows with their own songs as well, I’ll definitely attend one of those though I’m afraid people care more for Bob Marley covers than the band behind it.
Recent Comments