It's the 40th anniversary of the world-famous 'Legend' album, a posthumous 1984 compilation of Bob Marley and The Wailers' most beloved tracks.
To pay homage to this iconic release, and to bring Marley's songs to the world, The Original Wailers are currently touring Australia, and last night (14 November) they performed at Northcote Theatre, Melbourne.
It is worth noting there are a few different bands who call themselves The Wailers. The band we saw last night, The Original Wailers, was started in 2008, by two guitarists who played with Marley up until his death – Al Anderson and Junior Marvin.
Currently, The Original Wailers is headed by Anderson and features singer and guitarist Chet Samuels, keyboardist Ras Klamps, bassist Omar Lopes and drummer Papa Nyarkoh. Marvin left in 2011 to create his own Legendary Wailers, and there is also another group, The Wailers, that is led by the son of Bob Marley's bass player Aston Barrett.
Trying to unpack who the 'real' Wailers are seems pretty much futile, so I'll simply recount the experience we had with the wonderful Original Wailers.
Support was provided by the raucous ska-punk group The Kittyhawks, an Australian seven-piece band who debuted in late 2023. Despite this recent start they were up to the task of supporting The Original Wailers and brought a contagious enthusiasm to their set.
It was great to hear a live horn section, and their parts were very tight. Lead singer Michelle deftly moved between vocals and trumpet, while lead guitarist (and sometime singer) Nat was clearly having a wonderful time and provided some great stage antics. Trombonist Basil also played some beautiful reverb solos that provided a great contrast to the rest of the songs.
The crowd's interest grew and grew throughout the set, and by the time the Melbourne band performed their original song 'Por Qué Non' they had truly won over the audience.
All in all, The Kittyhawks were a very different beast to The Original Wailers, but they enamoured themselves to the crowd, and their undeniably positive energy had even the ska cynics in the crowd cracking a smile.
Around quarter past 9 it was time for the main event. Screams and shouts erupted over the band's hasty tuning, and before we knew it they were off and away with the first of many classics – 'Stir It Up'. The feeling of joy and excitement in the room was palpable as people geared up for an evening of unbridled sing-alongs.
Beanie-clad Chet Samuel began the first verse and I realised we were really in for a treat. He was a wonderful singer, with all the inflections and ad-libs one would expect from the reggae genre. Born in Puerto Rico to parents from Curacao and St. Kitts, he clearly had the cultural knowledge and sound to do Bob Marley's music justice.
With backing vocals provided by the other instrumentalists, the band was able to create a very full sound. To really get the audience onboard they made no haste in moving onto another anthem – 'I Shot The Sheriff'. The iconic stirring bassline of this tune was played with a beautiful touch by Omar Lopes, and accompanied with great feeling by drummer Papa Nyarkoh.
Throughout the show, Chet took many opportunities to tell us that "the message is in the music and the message is love". This translated well into 'Could You Be Loved', complete with a 'say something' call and response, and then 'Three Little Birds' – their tribute to the I Three singers who provided backing vocals for Bob Marley's band: Rita Marley, Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt.
'Three Little Birds' morphed into Peter Tosh's 'Legalize It', complete with reverbed vocals from Chet and perfect dub-style rimshots from Papa on the drums. This 'Legalize It' interlude briefly flirted with a dancehall beat and then returned to the 'Three Little Birds' chorus.
'Is This Love' was another huge sing-along, replete with a wailing guitar solo from Al Anderson, who gave us a taste of the sound that got him a gig playing lead guitar alongside Marley for nearly a decade.
Anderson introduced the next song as a tribute to the original founders of The Wailers – Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer and of course Bob Marley. This was an unexpected deep cut, and, happily, one of my personal favourites: 'Hammer'. The song was only released in 2004, but is posited to have been recorded in 1968. It's a truly great song, with the kind of energy and political messaging that has drawn countless fans to Marley's music.
After 'Hammer', Chet touched on Hurricane Melissa's recent devastation of Jamaica. He asked members of the audience to keep Jamaica in their thoughts and to donate if they had the funds. He further pushed his message of love, warning people: "Don't let no one fool you, try to school you. . . love is the way."
After this, the band played another deep-cut, the single 'Hypocrites' from 1967. The obscurity of the song combined with its slow feel lost the interest of the audience a little, but it was thankfully followed by the classic tune 'Jamming', which quickly enlivened the crowd.
From this they moved into a disco-esque groove that gave the bass and drums space to shine. This upbeat interlude suddenly dropped into a slow-reggae feel as the band kicked off 'No Woman No Cry’. The disco ball was put to good use above the swaying crowd, as flickers of light spun and caressed the walls of Northcote Theatre. Anderson played another gorgeous solo over this tune, wailing in only the way a true Wailer could.
This was clearly a faux-closing song, because the band were barely off the stage before a sea of footstomping, whistles and shouts brought them back on. Instead of launching straight back into a full-band sound, Chet performed an excerpt of 'Waiting In Vain', completely unaccompanied. His voice truly shone, and it was a privilege to get the chance to hear it so stripped back.
Moving into 'Turn Your Lights Down Low', the band slowly came in behind him with a soulful groove, putting their own tasteful spin on the original. Personally, I think this would have been the perfect ending to the show, however it seemed The Original Wailers couldn't help but continue the party.
Al Anderson talked about the band's new original songs and a music video they had recorded in Bali. They played an excerpt of their new Spanish-language dub-reggae tune 'Si Tu Me Lodas', then brought up a Melbourne music teacher and podcaster Adam Roach, who had recently interviewed Anderson. He played backing guitar on their final anthem, 'Buffalo Soldier'.
Though the crowd had thinned a little bit at this stage, the vast majority were still onboard and were jamming out to what they knew were the last moments of The Original Wailers' show. To finish up, Chet crooned a verse or two of the fan-favourite 'One Love', and the band brought out all the final stops, giving us an explosive ending to the night.
It had been almost two hours non-stop and the audience showered the band with love and appreciation as they said goodbye. The Original Wailers brought the audience the deep pleasure of hearing Bob Marley's 'Legend' album live, and did the music justice with a tasteful and genuine sound.
While I haven't seen any other manifestations of The Wailers, I believe The Original Wailers are doing an impressive job of keeping Marley's music alive.
