Last Friday saw the return of The Black Seeds to Sydney after a 6 month hiatus, whereby, as members of the band who spoke on FBI radio last week mentioned, they had toured Europe and had been back in Wellington NZ working on new material. 

Demonstrating their increasing crowd pulling factor they chose to put on two shows in Sydney, each side of the harbour, the first in Manly at the weathered old Fishos, and the second on the Saturday at @Newtown RSL. It mustn’t have been a shock for the band to find that Kiwi folk were obviously the most prevalent amongst the crowd, we all know Manly is one of their favourite Sydney hideaways, but the Aussies, of which this writer can count himself, definitely put in an effort to out do them.

As I say the Fishos is no oil painting, but it is friendly space for punters and musicians alike to get up close and personal and this is just what occurred on Friday night. Melbourne’s ten piece Red Eyes warmed up the room with fantastic brooding reggae music that at first had people a little hesitant to hit the dance floor and groove. However the venue quickly filled and there was no way to avoid swarming on the dance floor thanks to the superb vibes The Red Eyes were filling the room with. If you like your dub reggae I suggest you get down to the next show that the Red Eyes play at in Sydney.

It is great to see an Australian group adding their hands to the baton of live dub reggae which is so firmly being held by the Kiwis (think Salmonella Dub and Fat Freddy’s Drop).  Having witnessed Fat Freddy’s Drop a few weeks ago and then The Black Seeds on Friday this writer can say that these fellas from Aetoroa are not just representing the vibrancy and talent of the dub scene in New Zealand, but the general superiority of New Zealand musicians as a whole.

When the Black Seeds came to the stage things got to a fever pitch. From the first solid wall of Black Seeds bassy groove the people engorged themselves in shakin’. The cosy atmosphere of The Fishos became cosier, people stood on chairs to get a better view, hands flew in the air at the bequest of the horn sections blows and smiles were plastered on all faces.

Standout tracks of the night included Keep on Pushin’ from their album of the same name and the new tracks Fire, So True and the Blistering encore closer Senegal Champions of Africa from their new album called On the Sun which this tour was in aid of promoting. A truly memorable night thanks to a band of musicians who are masters of their art and an up for it crowd who appreciated deep bassy blissful funk infused dub.