Words by Gabriel Spadaccini
For anyone who has not been to a roots or reggae concert in a while, the recent show at Sydney’s Metro Theatre represented the absolute ideal. Two incredible acts – Mike Love, from the Hawaiian island of Oahu, and Nahko & Medicine for the People – graced the stage with them virtuostic skill and immense, infectious energy.
For those unfamiliar, here is a brief guide on what to expect from a show in this genre of music. As you approach the venue, walking down the streets of the CBD, the sight of dreadlocks will become more frequent. Once inside, taller guys leaning up against the railing in the front will step back to make room for girls, and conversations between complete strangers will develop based on mutual affinity for a particular artist, message, or cause. You will know you are in the right place when security guards are nowhere in sight because the threat of violence is virtually nonexistent, when the majority of a group’s members arrive onstage barefoot, and, perhaps most telling, when the crowd, from the front all the way to the back, is actually dancing. Yes, dancing.
Oahu native Mike Love kicked off the show, an unbelievable talent whose band delivered some of the tightest honey-soaked vocal harmonies since The Beach Boys member of the same name. Thick dreadlocks wrapped into a kind of enormous cornucopia on the back of his head, and he sat perched on a chair throughout the entirety of the set in deep concentration. With eyes closed during the songs, music served as his only channel of communication as he flew nimbly through complex acoustic guitar riffs and loop sequences, feeding into a motherboard array of effects pedals at his feet. One song took a solid five minutes of oral percussion looping just to build up to the point when the rest of the group could join in. Mike Love and co are serious business, skilled musicians with a heavily-dreadlocked genius at their head who are bound to blow up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU7hZ3smj0g
And then there is Nahko Bear, the unmistakable leader of Medicine for the People who at first listen comes across as a kind of modern-day shaman. There is a deep spirituality in his music, but one that relocates the almighty to the rainforests, deserts, mountains, and great wide-open oceans of the earth. His lyrics blend the vibrancy of Native American Indian legends with a call-to-arms search for identity. Considering the Oregon native’s mixed ethnic background – which includes Apache, Puerto Rican, and Filipino descent – this is perhaps unsurprising, but his music has doubtless struck a chord with the ‘Medicine Tribe’, as the group’s followers are known. Just last week, fans showed up over eight thousand strong to see back to back performances at the Byron Bay Bluesfest.
For those accustomed to mellow (if purposeful) Nahko, alone at a piano in a hotel lobby, or treading shirtless with acoustic guitar slung around his neck, this particular concert might well be remembered as the night Nahko went electric. In addition to the tried and true lineup of guitarist, drummer, and bassist, the group was reinforced by horn player Max Ribner and electric violinist Tim Snider, both of whom helped to jack up the volume of the show and add power to the overall performance. Nahko himself played acoustic on only one song, instead opting for the electric guitar and keyboard for most of the 90 minute set and letting his raw magnetism dominate as he romped everywhere on stage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsgP8LkEopM
Easily the best part of the entire night came in watching the members of Nahko’s group interact, witnessing firsthand not just how natural they feel playing music together, but how much fun they have doing it. There was a real bond of brothership up there on stage, visible in the laughter and grins that spread contagiously every time the band members made eye contact. You could see it in the way they glided, without a hitch, through Top 40 pop medleys that sprung up out of nowhere. Nahko unexpectedly launched into everything from Justin Bieber’s ‘Sorry’ to ‘Started From the Bottom’ by Drake to Adele’s ubiquitous ‘Hello’, just to name just a few.
The peak of energy took place not when the band was at full volume, but when each member was allowed his own individual spotlight. It began with Nahko himself, alone on stage playing through the chords of ‘Aloha Ke Akua’ before moving through a call and response between the crowd and the horn player, then the bassist, then the drummer (who it turns out has serious soul-leaning pipes). The truly transcendental moment, however, was Tim Snider’s electric violin solo in the opening for ‘Great Spirit’ – a frenetic, passionate, mind-blowingly technical yet beautiful few minutes in which the strings of his bow were literally torn apart from the sheer intensity. The man’s playing left shivers running up and down our spines.
Ultimately these shows are about heart. The ‘good vibrations’ catchphrase might be a cliché, but when the all ten members of both bands performing come out on stage at once for the show’s finale, swapping instruments, laughing hysterically, and beaming just to hear the crowd’s reaction, it’s difficult not to agree that it makes a whole lot of sense.
