Katchafire at The Coogee Bay Hotel

My favourite reggae band hailing from the mother country of all excellent reggae and dub, New Zealand, is finally playing in Sydney again!
I bought tickets as soon as I found out about it (months in advance) and coerced some friends (and my only too willing sister) into accompanying me, assuring them they were in for an excellent night, and boy we were NOT disappointed! 

After navigating the hectic Friday night traffic (September 17th) and crazy drivers of Sydney we arrived in Coogee around 8:00pm. The line at The Bay was already around the block but moving quite steadily, so we jumped on the band- wagon. Pretty much everyone in the line was Kiwi except for us. The vibe was psyched. I did a little jig of excitement.

After a 100 metre line to just show I.D. we joined a second line to enter Selina’s, which was nearly packed to capacity. As soon as you stepped through the door you were bowled over by the sweet cacophony of brass and your knees buckled with a smooth reggae beat. It was hot and steamy inside and no one was standing still. The groove was infectious and a unanimous cruisy smile adorned every face of the eclectic mix of a crowd. 

Homegrown Vtribe did an excellent job of loosening up the crowd; with 11 band members the stage was just as much of a party as the grinding dance floor. Pumping out some funky ska beats with a nicely rounded horns section, boppy percussion and heart-warming vocals it was impossible not to move. The support was just as worthwhile to see as the main act, and when Katchafire did eventually take to the stage the energy could have created electricity. 

The set included an excellent mix of their old and new songs including ‘Collie Herb man’ ‘Frisk me down’ and ‘seriously’. Always a crowd pleaser, the beats were fat and funky, the vocals irresistibly smooth and the sax solos were awesome. A small technical glitch meant the sound blew out right as they were about to drop the beat, but soon fixed. My only disappointments were that they didn’t play my favourite song ‘Get away’ and they played for only one and a half hours instead of their usual epic three-hour set. Still an awesome night and always a band worth seeing!

Here is a video of 'Seriously' from the actual gig, but i have no idea why it is sideways.

http://www.trb.co.nz/attachments/katchafire-3.jpg