Our final performance was on the 8th of February in the afternoon. The 5 song set list lasted around half an hour, and was received really well by the audience.
Overall, this was an adequate performance especially with the short timescale and the size of the band. The stage presence and enthusiasm was excellent from where I was sat, and everyone maintained full focus throughout the performance. There is much room for improvement however.
Our bands major drawback throughout this project was getting everyone to meet up for a full practice regularly. This was partly due to the size of the band, as this made it difficult to get a practice slot when every member was free to participate, but also partly due to the attitude of some members who would simply just not show up. This made the set much more difficult to arrange and learn as we often would not have a full band to discuss structures, chords/riffs, and endings. In future projects it is vital that each member is dedicated, and that every possible practice slot is used effectively. Another problem that we had during practice, was that some members would not have already learnt their parts therefore we rarely got through a whole song in less than an hour. It was only really during the final 2 practice slots where everyone got serious and managed to pull off each song.
Another improvement that could be made is communication on stage. Myself (on the drums) and Cain (on the bass) were the driving force in the performance as this is generally the basis of reggae music and Bob Marley’s songs. This meant that we worked together to nail any standout sections such as fills and changes in rhythm. Our communication on stage was nearly flawless as both of us knew exactly what to do and when, and would signal each other into new sections in one way or another. When trying to signal to the rest of the band however, people were not paying attention or even looking in our direction at times as instructed to in practice. This meant that transitions between certain sections were sometimes unpolished and somewhat messy. A tribute band must be absolutely tight on each song to provide an authentic experience for the audience, and to do this communication is vital.
A minor improvement to be made would be organising some form of dress code. Due to our last practices being rushed and squeezed in, we did not have time to discuss our appearance on stage. I watched some performances by Bob Marley and his band and they appear to just dress casually more often than not, but I feel as though a little more effort in what we were to wear would give the performance that little bit more of an authentic feeling.
A couple of other things that could have been looked into are things like how Bob Marley’s band acted on stage, and what their instrument settings were – for example, Carlton Barrett (their drummer) had his snare drum tuned incredibly high, to resemble the tone of timbales.
Personally, I need to improve on my stamina most of all. With this being my first ever performance behind a drum kit, I had no idea how much energy it was going to take, especially in such a small set. I found my right arm playing the Hi-Hats would often go dead or start to slow and slip out of time, or my right leg on the kick drum would switch between playing heel up and heel down. Another thing worth working on is keeping every drum at a similar level by not hitting them too hard or soft. I found that occasionally a snare would be unintentionally really loud or a kick drum would be barely noticeable. On the whole though I dont think I did too bad, I managed to learn to play drums from scratch and perform to a decent standard. Had I have already been playing for a few years I’m sure that I would have been much more proficient and confident in this instrument.
Ultimately, this performance I would say was an excellent effort when considering the amount of rushing around involved. I feel as though most of us gave it our all and really worked to producing a high quality authentic performance, musically, and visually. The bass lines were spot on and worked well with the drums. The keys and mixed percussion accompanied this really well, the guitars had a good tone and fleshed each song out with alternate chord positions, and a few solo riffs here and there. The vocals I felt were superb with harmonies thrown in certain sections to really add to the set. Personally I believe that we provided a very good reggae sound and really nailed performing in this style. I think had we been given more time on this, the set could have really been perfected.