Credits for photos and videos in this post go to Derrin Hill, Gwyn Naera and Aleisha Rangi.
ROARING LION played to a packed house of Bob Marley fans at Kings Beach Tavern (KBT) in Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast, yesterday. My head is still in the clouds…
KBT had a nice poster up! Our boys took pix.
There were plenty of challenges that day. The weather, for one. All the beaches along the Sunshine Coast were closed to the public, and the forecast was for a deluge. We mostly live on the Gold Coast and Brisbane — and me? I’m in the Scenic Rim — that’s a three-hour drive in the rain… Below is a screenshot of the BOM radar. Ho hum.
Second challenge — due to flooding, our original support band couldn’t make it. Now what?
Drummer Jason Otene said: “I just joined a cover band that might be able to make it. I’ll give them a call.”
It went something like: “Hey, do you wanna play a gig in Caloundra? Yeah. Now.”
Jason’s depping for our drummer Bojan Sambolec, who is on ‘new dad’ duty.
What champions! They rocked up to the Sunny Coast in the rain, and they sounded great! Classic covers — Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan, Michael Jackson, Bill Withers … Rich chord structures. Love that music!
It meant Jason played both gigs. Haha.
They didn’t have a band name yet and had to think of one! Maui introduced them as Toru-Wha, getting everyone to give them a big THANK YOU ‘cos they helped us out at the very last minute.
I asked Maui later, so what does Toru-Wha mean?
It means “three-four” in Maori. They’ll laugh if you mention their name, ‘cause they cracked up when I thanked them on stage.
We all loved them and wanna work together again!
While Toru-Wha were on stage, I sat with Gwyn, wife of rhythm guitarist Wayne Naera. We watched our lead singer Glen selling band merch. Far out — I went to Sabah and look what happened! We have merch! Roaring Lion never stops working.
Gwyn looked around.
“This is a real Bob Marley crowd,” she said.
How exciting to play to people that really know these songs, I thought. Later — during our set — a young guy came up to the stage and got my attention, waggling his fingers like he was “playing” keys and then pointing at me.
“I hear you,” he mouthed. He was referring to the signature brass lines in Buffalo Soldier. I was so chuffed. I made the namaste to him.
Gwyn said someone had called out to Toru-Wha, “Hey I’ve come to listen to Bob Marley, not Stevie Wonder.” One of the Toru-Wha musos said, “We’re the support band, Roaring Lion are up next.” The guy replied, Alright, but can you play Coming In From The Cold?
Gwyn said Toru-Wha were cool. They said they would leave it to the pros.
Gwyn live-streamed ‘Coming in from the Cold’, and I screen recorded it to put here.
We did our initial sound check with a sound engineer named Matthew, but he said Dan Aurora would be here to take over before we went on. We love Dan! It was excellent to have him be our front-of-house at KBT!
There was a small group of young reggae fans with special needs, enjoying the music with their carers. They were near the front of the stage and it was so good to know that we can play Bob’s music and make a safe, happy environment for everyone to enjoy it. Someone from the group requested One Drop. It wasn’t in our original set, but we were happy to play it.
We gave our audience one hundred percent Bob Marley music.
Dem Belly Full, Top Rankin, Survivor, Rastaman Vibration, Zimbabwe, Ambush in the Night, Roots Rock Reggae, Soul Shake Down Party, Coming in From the Cold, Selassie in the Chapel, Trenchtown Rock, Waiting in Vain, Natural Mystic, War, No More Trouble, Exodus, Punky Reggae Party, I Shot The Sheriff, Who The Cap Fit, One Love, Rat Race, Get Up Stand Up, Small Axe, Kaya, No Woman No Cry, Is This Love, Three Little Birds, One Love, Buffalo Soldier, Redemption Song, Could You Be Loved, Stir It Up. Jammin’, Turn Your Lights Down Low.
The last time I played with Roaring Lion was in July. They’ve performed several times while I was in Sabah, and even now we’re still without Bojan and Vince Rangi, who is on holiday. Bass player Taria Teiti’s wife Sisilia has been supporting the band with her rich, powerful voice, singing backing vocals. She joined Aleisha Rangi to deliver a superb rendition of ‘Turn Your Lights Down Low’ in our encore.
Despite the rain, the event was a massive success! The Kings Beach Tavern treated us so well. The venue was packed, the bar was busy the entire time, our music was so tight. I had a flu bug last week and had lost my voice, so no backing vocals for me 😞. But I can’t wait to sing again in November!!
We are SO excited about our next gig at the BEENLEIGH TAVERN on November 5. Everyone will be back and we will all be together to perform our Bob Marley songs for you. Please find us on OUR FACEBOOK PAGE AND ON INSTAGRAM to see the details and buy tickets.