A New Year’s Tribute to Bob Marley and The Wailers.
So it’s the end of the holidays and you’re tired from being on the go for the past few weeks. You’re out of shape from eating far too much and you’ve already broken three of your New Year’s resolutions and it’s not even 2015 yet. How are you going to cope? Allow Grid City to make a suggestion. We recommend hitting up the biggest, warmest, most downtownest, most FeelsGoodest New Year’s party around, when Dub Antenna and friends perform as the 20 Year Strong Ensemble and celebrate the 30th anniversary of Bob Marley’s iconic compilation album, Legend.
“Last year we teamed up with the 20 Year Strong Ensemble to put on The Beastie Boys Ill Communication Tribute Show,” said FeelsGood’s Paul McAllister. “It was our first event at the market venue and it turned out to be a great success and above all, a good time. So we figured teaming up for a New Year’s show was the natural next step.”
The good folks at FeelsGood have been promoting fun and unique arts and music events throughout the city for the past several years, and their summer outdoor extravaganza, Folly Fest, has become an important stop on the Maritime summer festival circuit. They’ve proven their ability to host a good time, so why not hold a reggae party on a cold winter’s night?
“After a very brief discussion, we decided that despite the fact that the 30 year anniversary of Bob Marley’s Legend didn’t quite match up with the ensemble’s mission statement, it was a perfect fit for a New Year’s party,” said McAllister. “If you’ve ever braved your way through the bitter winter winds to a night of reggae at Wilser’s Room, then you know how much fun it is to dance up a summer sweat to those classic tunes we all know and love.”
And what better nucleus for a Fredericton reggae party at any time of the year, than Dub Antenna? After claiming hump day as their very own nearly ten years ago, Dub Antenna have taught a generation of Fredericton music lovers that Wednesdays aren’t so bad and the weekend is just another day closer.
“It just seemed to make sense,” said the group’s drummer, Mat Fitzgerald, “given the long relationship of reggae music and Fredericton, spanning well before the days of Dub Antenna. Specifically regarding the band, Marley’s songs have never comprised a large part of our catalog so it seemed like the ideal time to learn and perform many of the greatest reggae songs of all time. And the market on New Year’s Eve is the perfect place to do it.”
But even for the most accomplished musicians, as is the case with Dub Antenna’s membership, there is always a challenge involved in tackling a full album’s worth of someone else’s music. After all, when any group associates their name with a classic album, the expectations of the audience and members on stage can be a heavy weight to carry.
“I think in the beginning of projects like these there is a pretty strong sense of nostalgia that inevitably creates an equally strong sense of pressure,” said Fitzgerald. “Performing iconic albums like these clearly makes for a pretty intimidating measuring stick, even when performing a cover show. So in all likely-hood, therein lies the draw of projects of this nature – the challenge of doing these timeless pieces of art do justice.”
Advance tickets are $18.00 (plus fees) now on sale online or in person at Isaac’s Way. Doors at 8pm | Show 8:30pm | Tickets $25 at the door. A limited number of VIP passes will also be available, and will include dinner for two at 540 Kitchen and Bar, special access to VIP seating the show with complimentary bubbly all night. Watch the event page for details.
