Aruba Red – Live @ The Thekla, Bristol, UK 18/10/08
Entering the Thekla I found myself at the front of the stage, this straight away gave me a realisation about what I was about to hear. Steel acoustic guitar to my left and a percussion/wooden box to my right, tonight’s sound would be infused with reggae for sure.
As the acoustic intro started, a young stylish artist came out from behind the amps dancing to her bands acoustic rhythm and the crowd looked intrigued. Natascha Eleonoré aka Aruba Red, bounded to the microphone, announced that it was her first time in Bristol and that we were all going to enjoy Natty’s performance later. As the percussion/drummer Kaz Hussain started on the box the heads of the crowd started bobbing, and you could feel the reggae vibe running through the speakers at full volume. An awesome start to this set.
Natascha introduced her song “Rebel Soldiers” and the crowd began to warm to her, showing appreciation by dancing and getting involved in the performance. Natascha looked nervous coming into the third song and was really trying to pump the crowd, but nerves started to work in her favour as her voice suddenly stepped up a gear and she was now singing in perfect harmony with the rhythm of the music, Natascha had disappeared, Aruba Red was now in full flow and so was the crowd. As more beer started flowing around me, I realised that this was not the full power of this crowd just yet. The original sound of Aruba Red started to attract more people and when Natascha introduced the song “42 Days” the floor in front of the stage was packed. Aruba Red explained that “42 days” is a song about people making a positive difference to others lives, and then she proceeded to sing with such a passion, you could see how much these lyrics meant to her.
In Aruba Red’s set was a top 10 hit on Jamaican Radio called “Struggling”, which really had the young crowd dancing and enjoying the music. Aruba Red’s set left a new sound in the ears of this crowd, one that would not be forgotten easily. The performance from Aruba Red was fresh and vibrant.
Natty – Live @ The Thekla, Bristol, UK 18/10/08
While waiting for Natty to arrive on stage, the DJ started to play Drum and Bass and some Reggae. The alcohol infused adrenaline packed floor was pumping with sweaty bodies already. It was hard to find one person not dancing or bopping along.
As a youth, Natty was making his way in the music world by running into studios saying he was an engineer and then going and checking out the studios for free. The singing from Natty was not expected to be technically perfect, and I was interested to see if his strong London accent would affect the performance in any way. With the stage now being set up, a Fender Stratocaster came out with a rough look of marks and scratches which then was followed by the bass guitar being in the same poor state. It created a laid back and almost lazy band persona. The Remo Drum kit sat at the back of the stage looking ready for a heavy set of reggae rhythms. Finding the reggae percussion section over on the right side of the stage gave a look of control for Djembe player Jon blood, as he would be overlooking the rest of the band.
With the lights now dimmed the crowd started to scream and Natty bounced out onto the stage with his red striped puma hi tops and gave the crowd a little dance. He then launched himself at the microphone and said “What’s up Bristol”, with this the fans volume level hit maximum.
The Thekla was now being pushed to the limit as the bass from the intro track vibrated the structure at every point. But the Thekla Boat was not the only thing that was moving, as the boat vibrated more and more the crowd danced harder and harder. Natty coming closer to the stage gave me a opportunity to read his bright yellow T-Shirt, it read “Love Music, Hate Racism” this statement was meaningful, and felt very true on the back of Natty himself.
Chrizla the drummer quickly crashed his symbol into the opening song which gave no time for the crowd to stop or react. Opening with “Hey Man” the atmosphere became very lifted, especially with everyone singing the lyrics. Passionate fans were screaming the words while dancing like hippies from Woodstock! This song from Natty’s new album “Man like I” really was a perfect choice as an opener because the crowd were now very much involved in the music.
Before the next track, Natty asked for the lights to be turned down as he pointed out “its not Christmas and I am not a Christmas tree”. The crowd laughed and Natty gave a cheeky smile to everyone. The band now went into the song “July”, a popular song that again the crowd new all the lyrics for. This song was actually performed on “The Later with Jools Holland TV show”.
July” into “Last night” gave a change of pace to the crowd and got them almost settled for awhile. The next song “Bedroom Eyes” gave a true picture of Natty’s vocal talent and how original his sound is. This performance was a huge success for Natty and you could tell that the crowd’s favourite track was here. His voice was impressive live and the bands energy was pumping out into the Thekla. A jam section came after the song “Bad Man” and the guitarist “Bear” really gave a bold performance, picking away on his Fender.
All of the audience were clearly enjoying themselves and Natty was giving them just what they were after. Natty really knows his fan base and was a real crowd pleaser. Flying high into the later part of the show you could see how tightly rehearsed the tracks really were and when “Cold Town” and “Say bye bye” were performed you could especially hear the singing and percussion sections perfectly in tune with each other. Finishing this exhausted crowd Natty now pulled out “Coloured Souls” and then went into “Bad Mind and “Collie Weed the crowd now had no more sweat to give.
Natty’s fans were waiting to see this concert and he really did deliver at the Thekla. The band was tight musically, the performance was energetic and the crowd gave back all the energy that was thrown at them. Nattys performance kept the crowd bouncing and the heads bobbing.
To describe Natty’s music would be a difficult thing to do, but however imagine stewing together “Bob and Damien Marley”, boiling up “The Streets” with “Roots Manuva” finishing with a slice of “Citizen Cope” and you can now get a flavour for what Natty is all about.
