On Thursday, July 30, 2009, I was able to experience The Wailers in concert. They played the entire Exodus album (which was originally released by Bob Marley and The Wailers in 1977) at the Anaheim House of Blues. Here’s my story.
I’m not sure who introduced me to reggae music and Bob Marley, but I remember first hearing the Legend album with my friend Andy Herbert. I was a senior in high school at that time and I was impressed by the genre for many reasons. I felt it was happy and upbeat and distinctly different from the other music I was listening to. Andy and I had a good laugh at the song Jammin’ because he said it sounded like Bob was saying, “Pajama.” We also thought it was pretty cool that he made up the word “Hopejahwahwahwah” in the same song.
My next memory of Bob Marley and The Wailers was when I was listening to them in my car while driving to a restaurant with David St. John. Early in my college years, I took my church’s college pastor out to breakfast. He asked what we were listening to and I told him Bob Marley and reassured him Bob was cool because he sang about God. Pastor St. John laughed and mockingly said Bob was a spiritual leader. At around the same time, I recall my roommate Chris Clayton heartily approving of Bob Marley and The Wailers’ reggae music; which says a lot because Chris was highly critical of all music and could give many reasons why any band was good, great or god-awful.
Another fond reggae memory was over a decade ago when I heard Three Little Birds in Hume Lake, California. For reasons beyond my control, I was leaving the camp and heading home to San Diego. I had anticipated staying there for the summer as a lifeguard, but my path was changing and I was concerned. I remember listening to Three Little Birds on that cool crisp morning before driving home while I walked along the beautiful lake. Even today, when I wake up and stretch in my living room, I’ll play this song on my home stereo and it helps me to relax, avoid worry and maintain a positive attitude.
A month or two ago, one of my advanced electric guitar students asked me to teach him some reggae. I happily obliged, but I also told him that I wasn’t a Rastafarian. I appreciate reggae and enjoy it, but I also think playing reggae music daily and/or as a profession requires something I do not have. It would be very difficult for someone like me because I’d want to play rolls on the drums and fill in the spaces with varying licks and hooks on electric guitar or bass. One of the peculiar challenges of reggae music is to play a hook over and over without filling in the spaces and without any variation. In doing so, the musician creates a beautiful melody and invokes a cool, danceable and somewhat trancelike beat. I also understand that while I’m a reggae enthusiast, there are people who take the genre and the lifestyle much more seriously and probably don’t care too much for people like me who don’t live it every day. I think Gene understood my hesitations and appreciated my honesty. He also enjoyed his lesson of reggae licks on electric guitar.
When I heard The Wailers were still around, it piqued my interest. Could Bob Marley’s original band still be touring and playing music? While I thought that was awesome, I wasn’t as interested in hearing them play new reggae music. When I found they were playing the entire Exodus album from 1977, I was stoked and quickly looked up the track list. Could I actually hear Bob Marley’s band play five or six of my favorite reggae songs that were released 32 years ago? The answer, to my excitement, was yes!
I arrived at the House of Blues in Anaheim (which is very close to Disneyland) around 8:30pm. The opening band had a few songs left, but that simply gave me and my cousin Amber time to hit the bathroom and get a drink. Shortly after we finished imbibing, we headed downstairs and began our crawl to the middle front of the stage. By the time The Wailers took the stage, we were front and center and in a great spot to view this historic band.
Examining the crowd, I was amazed at how white it was. Seriously, I figured we would stand out as the minority white people in a crowd full of red-eyed, black men adorning red, yellow and green headgear. This assumption couldn’t have been further from the truth. I noticed just four or five black people in the entire place and the crowd was very white! I turned to my cousin and asked her how different this would have been in Jamaica. I’m not racist in the slightest, being born and raised in California with a Christian background, but I was hoping to glean some rhythm, insight and understanding from actual Rastafarians. While I was able to look to The Wailers for this sort of inspiration, I may have to travel to Jamaica for a cultural lesson in reggae.
The Wailers looked great and very different from your average band. Most bands have a singer, a bassist, a guitarist and a drummer. Those three pieces are essential to modern day rock bands. Many bands have a second guitarist and some have another musician like a keyboardist. The Wailers featured two horn players, a keyboardist, a singer, an electric guitar, a bassist, drummer, two female dancers who also sang background vocals and a percussionist who primarily played congas and the cowbell. This group led us through the Exodus experience and played a sensational encore of original hits by Bob Marley and The Wailers.
The concert began with horns blasting, notifying us it was time to listen and dance. The lead singer was absent at the beginning, but ran out and started the show a minute or two later. I didn’t know all of the songs on the Exodus album, but One Love/People Get Ready, Exodus, Waiting in Vain, Jammin’ and Three Little Birds are awesome songs. They are all on the Legend album, so I had been enjoying them since at least 1992. Somewhere along my journey, I had also heard the song Natural Mystic and thought it was cool, so I was happy to hear that one as well. From the repetitious bass line in Exodus to the funky keyboard in Three Little Birds to the classic, warm-sounding guitar solo in Waiting in Vain, The Wailers gave the crowded venue all they wanted and more.
After the band played the entire Exodus album, they took a quick break. The crowd cheered and cheered and after about 5 minutes that felt like 10 minutes, they returned and played some more great, reggae music. During this encore, The Wailers rocked two of my favorites: Stir It Up and Get Up, Stand Up. Even though these songs were first released before most of the attendees were even born, they reacted to many of them, cheering, clapping, singing along and dancing.
Toward the end of the show, The Wailers paused and the singer introduced all of the band members. Each musician played his instrument and the girls sang for about a minute each. They all sounded great and I couldn’t detect any sour notes. I noticed the bass guitarist playing his instrument awfully high and using his fingers, never a pick. He played a Fender jazz bass guitar. The electric guitarist (I think his name was Chizzy) had huge hands and made the neck of his Ibanez guitar look tiny.
One thing I noticed was the lack of slower songs/ballads. Although I wanted to hear Redemption Song and I certainly wouldn’t have minded No Woman No Cry, it was clear that The Wailers wanted to keep the tempo upbeat. Perhaps they play those songs when they aren’t rocking the entire Exodus album. At any rate, playing those songs as they were written would have required most of the band to be quiet as the singer and guitarist performed. The band wanted to keep people happily moving, so I forgave the minor infraction and understood the omission.
Having the two female singers/dancers was sweet because it gave the crowd some people to dance with. While the guys in front of me stood like stone statues (well, almost), these girls were moving the whole time! Sometimes, I find it hard to dance unless I see someone else dancing and moving and these girls certainly helped my groove along. However, I didn’t mind when those dudes left because there were some girls in front of them that knew how to move. In fact, I took a look around me and I was literally surrounded by dancing girls, but they weren’t focused on me or dancing with me per se. They were looking ahead and grooving to the music with me and everyone else. It didn’t feel like a bar, club or Tijuana meat market because the atmosphere was happier, more communal and less threatening than that. It was very chill.
I do not think I could have wanted anything more from a reggae concert. The Wailers collaborated with Bob Marley, wrote and recorded my favorite reggae songs in the 1970’s and I had a chance to hear them live in concert. Anything less wouldn’t have been nearly as sweet, mon. And one more thing….”don’t worry about a ting, cuz every little ting is gonna be alright.”
