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Most of my posse were seriously put off this gig by dint of it being (a) at the Jazz Caf\u00e9 and (b) \u00a330 to get in. Paul Meme\u2019s immense powers of persuasion<\/a> swayed me, though, and whilst I\u2019m glad I went, the night got me thinking about the good and bad of reggae gigs in general.<\/p>\n The good<\/em> is that the place was rammed out, which shows that there is still a load of interest in reggae in London, with a lot of people prepared to stump up their hard earned to see it. With all the scepticism about download culture it was great to get somewhere hot, sweaty and loud to see this stuff in the flesh. The crowd was pretty diverse in terms of race and gender but the gate pressure obviously meant it was yer neat and tidy end of things rather than natty dread sufferers who were in attendance.<\/p>\n Image (not from the gig last night) nicked from\u00a0 merylklemow<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The Abyssinians came on in a timely manner, looking splendid with Bernard Collins and Donald Manning in gold and red silk and David Morrison a bit more casual. That was one main worry out of the way. Reggae gigs are notorious for starting late and for certain artists being, how shall we say \u201ca little worse for wear\u201d when they deign to come on stage. A mate of mine at work had a grim time when she went to see Barrington Levy and Sanchez recently on a Sunday night and things didn\u2019t get going til 2am.<\/p>\n The band sounded great, and worked hard all night, backing up both acts. My one complaint is the absence of live horns of any description. I can see keyboards are easier and cheaper and all that but they make things much flatter. For 30 quid I want a bleedin\u2019 horn section, right? Bernard Collins had a dodgy mic which lead to him putting it down and heading off backstage after the first number. I don\u2019t blame him really, how hard can it be to make sure the mics all work ok? It took a while to sort out but not ages.<\/p>\n The Abyssinians are still in fine form and it was truly amazing to see them in person, sounding so good after all these years. Most of the songs that I knew sounded very similar to the records but there were few instances of being completely transported<\/em> by the experience \u2013 and those only during the anthems like Declaration of Rights, This Land is for Everyone and of course Satta. They stuck fairly steadfastly to material on their albums which I guess is what most people know, but I would have loved for them to do a version of Love Comes and Goes from the recent compilation of Talent Corporation releases on Pressure Sounds<\/a>.<\/p>\n All \u201crevival\u201d gigs have a bit of a weird effect on me. It\u2019s great to see the material performed (and a relief that there is no busting out of new material which can\u2019t match the classics). But it also feels a bit like a museum piece. Museums are very safe places where everything is nicely under glass and contextualised for you. The complexities of scenes which are still evolving is absent. Part of me wondered if I was there to add another tick to my spotter list of people to have seen before they pass away…<\/p>\n That said, you would be hard pressed to find a support act as good as The Abyssinians anywhere. It felt great being able to put some money in their pockets after giving them so much love over the years. I am categorically not knocking them for surviving in the cut throat reggae business for this long and if I\u2019m in as good a shape as them at their age I will be a happy man.<\/p>\n![\"Image](\"http:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1194\/1075117822_ddd77b8ea1.jpg?v=0\")
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