Last night’s gig, Katchafire at the Sugar Factory, went off. Those guys were magnificent — deeply traditional reggae by a bunch of Māori fellas, with dense Pacific vocal harmonies and lots of Kiwi warmth and enthusiasm.

They started early, and the crowd was pretty thin even by the end of the show (they played from about 8:30 to 10:30 or so), which was nice for dancing. There were still enough of us to get a reasonable noise going in the chorus of the two or three Marley covers though. As usual at a Kiwi gig I saw lots of pounamu and bone, and lots of people were singing along to the originals as well — this was definitely an audience of fans.

They returned the enthusiasm many-fold, with lots of interaction and crowd talk and smiles and grooving. I went with two girls, and the talk of the evening kept returning to how gorgeous the frontman was. He’s good-looking, but they were also responding to the warmth and humour (“We’ve got CDs on sale at the table over there, we got stung for excess baggage coming over so give us a hand, eh?”). You’ll find the same qualities in their music — check out Get Away (I can’t see the vid, but it’s a great song) or the lyrics to Lose Your Power:

Got a letter in my pocket If you want to see it I can pull it We can pop it together Whoa no baby stop it Just another overdue bill That I’ve got nothing to pay on Disregard it […] You’re gonna lose your power oh no You’re gonna lose your power oh no There’ll be no hot shower oh no You’re gonna lose your power oh no oh no oh no

I’ve got their first CD and it’s a good one, but live they’re something else again. Highly recommended, if you get a chance to see them.