The Dualers / Rock City / Nottingham
The Dualers are often hailed as Britain’s finest Ska & Reggae band, and the South London nine piece band hit the main stage at Nottingham’s Rock City on Friday night (21/08/2021) to kick start their covid postponed “The Road to Wembley” tour…… And boy was it worth the wait.
We’ve been listening to The Dualers for some time and their albums “Reggae Street I & II”, “The Cooking Pot” and their latest release in 2019 “Palm Trees and 80 Degrees” are all fantastic and regular plays at LiveWire Music. This was our first time seeing the band live and I had high hopes……and they certainly didn’t disappoint. A big enthusiastic crowd of all ages were there and ready to come out of isolation with defiance and a bang.
Led by the flamboyant and enigmatic Tyber Cranstoun on vocals the band have an incredible stage presence. The vocals are crisp and sharp and the overall performance is immaculate, the brass is punchy and sharp. I particularly liked the mix of Tyber’s vocals with Peter Lee on backing, they work really well together. The great thing for me about SKA / Reggae is it is such a happy and positive musical medium and it’s our go to genre of music for guaranteed smiles. As the classic song says ‘Don’t worry about a thing, cause every little thing’s gonna be alright’. It sums up the genre perfectly and The Dualers certainly brought a collective smile to the audience last night.
Opening with the fantastic “Cool Under Fire” from 2013’s album “The Cooking Pot” we also had the excellent “Carolina”, “Blazing Fire” and “Hurricane” from 2014’s “Back to Paradise” album.
However, it was their album from 2019 “Palm Trees and 80 Degrees” that was the cornerstone of the set on this tour. This is one of my favourite albums and I have to say it’s almost perfect, with hardly a weak spot on it, and wonderfully, all the tracks cross over to live sets brilliantly too. You know what it’s like, sometimes a track sounds great on vinyl but not live or vise versa, but not here….. All the featured tracks were outstanding, including “Only When You’re Around”, “I Only Have Eyes for You”, ”Johnny Come Back”, ”Sounds like a Lie to Me” and “What a Banagarang”. The highlight of the show for me was an exception rendition of their brilliant track “It’s a Wonderful Life” a real lift me up song of hope and joy.
The crowd clearly loved it all. Singing along and dancing to the beat throughout. But all good things come to an end and the show finally wrapped up, the only way it could really….. with Caribbean beach party track “Dancing ‘til the Sun Comes Up” The show may be over but the party is just beginning !
And then it was over. And although disappointed it had come to an end, everyone left with what good SKA/Reggae always leaves you with….. a big broad smile on your face. A wonderful night all round.
Support was provided by PJ’s One Drop, a SKA / Reggae cover band from Sheffield consisting of Rich Huggy Bear Cartwright (Vocals), Nathan Kobierowshy (Guitar), Andy Clixby (Keyboards), James Watkin (Bass), Alan Wood (Drums) and Baron Dom South (Trombone). I always say NEVER EVER miss a support band, there are so many incredible bands out there that need our support and are in fact actually very very good. Many times I’ve gone to see a show and the support has been equally good to the main act, and many of my favourite bands right now, I first saw as a support act.
Well tonight was the best example of this philospohy, as PJ’s One Drop were the perfect accompaniment to The Dualers. They effortlessly ran through a ‘greatest hits’ set of SKA / Reggae songs. Musically they were fantastic, with a great balance so you could hear all the elements of each track, and they delivered a floor stomping performance. Rich’s vocals were spot on and they had a great stage presence and effortless interaction with the crowd.
Rattling through legendary hits such as UB40’s ‘Kingston Town’, the Bad Manners classic ‘Lip Up Fatty’, The Special’s ‘A Message to you Rudy’ and ‘Too Much Too Young’, and of course Madness’s ‘Prince’, ‘Night Boat to Ciaro’and ‘Baggy Trousers’. But the set highlights for me were a brilliant version of Bob Marley’s classic ‘Three Little Birds’ and the closing track ‘Can’t take my Eyes off You’ in which the audience enthusiastically joined in.
PJ’s One Drop really set up The Dualers well, the crowd were bouncing through their set, singing along and dancing and really getting into the night, ready for the main event.
Check out PJ’s One Drop on Facebook for upcoming shows. Trust me, you certainly won’t be disappointed if you take one in.
Tonight was the first night on The Dualers “The Road to Wembley” tour, culminating with a headline show at Wembley Arena on 14 May 2022. Check out The Dulers online at www.thedualers.com for show details.
Even if you’ve not tried Ska or reggae before, this is a show full of energy and life, and one definitely NOT to miss.
