Live Review - The Red Eyes

January 18, 2012 – Queen Victoria Night Market

If you read my review of Clairy Browne & The Bangin’ Rackettes set at the same venue a week ago, I don’t need to go on again about how I think the Queen Victoria Market is very weird.  But it is a very fun place to go, and it’s this reason that drew me back to the venue for another night of interesting food, shopping and music.  Where 1950s doo-wop/soul was the flavour of last week, modern reggae/dub was the flavour this week with Melbourne based band, The Red Eyes, taking to the stage.  I should warn you though, before you read any further, I’m not a huge fan of reggae music.  I find that its development relies too heavily on the achievements of a single artist and has created a style that I generally find repetitive and tiresome.  But much of this also has to do with the fact that reggae music comes mostly from a culture that I have never been immersed in and therefore, do not fully understand.  So please, when you read this, understand that I am not a connoisseur of reggae music and my knowledge is limited.

The Red Eyes are a solid, professional band.  They are tight and they have their set structured well.  They give very little indication that there is any truth behind the allusion their band name makes.  These guys do not seem to be lazy, or hazy, at all.  They know what they’re doing and they do it well.  There is something about their “riddims” that had everyone dancing last night and although I found most songs to be repetitive and drawn out, my foot kept bouncing to the beat.  I guess that’s part of the appeal of reggae music.  The people who like it, enjoy tapping into that primal urge to dance to a consistent beat, much like what is seen in tribal civilisations around the world.  It’s something deep down within us that makes us want to move and it is the reason that genres like reggae and techno have been immensely popular.

But more about The Red Eyes and their performance last night.  For forty-five minutes they kept the crowd entertained, gaining more and more dancers as the set went on.  Vocalist, El Witeri, was on song for the entire performance, but didn’t quite read the crowd correctly when attempting a “Hell yeah!” call and response.  While this would work very well at one of their usual shows, it didn’t quite work for a crowd that, mostly, doesn’t know what the band is about.  Guitarist and bandleader, Damien Charles, kept everything going very smoothly, displaying his natural ability to know when to push the band harder and when to get them to pull back.

In a reggae fan’s eyes, The Red Eyes are probably the best homegrown act going around.  They’re certainly the only one I’ve seen that has the ability to compete with the Jamaican juggernauts of the genre.  It’s highly likely that they won over a few new fans with their performance, and they deserved to.  For me though, reggae music doesn’t quite hit the mark in terms of what I want from a listening and viewing experience.