Auckland Zoo is one of those Reggae Zoos you hear so much about. The general public doesn’t often get to see a Reggae Zoo in full operation, but yesterday they had a special evening event so that we could all see how the animals groove to irie roots riddims. You haven’t truly skanked until you’ve skanked with a spider monkey.
Music was provided by Katchafire. Stephen tells me they recently supported the Wailers, and managed to completely upstage them. This should be a warning to all musicians: it is embarrassing enough to be outdone by your support act, but even worse if said support act is named after one of your albums. Tthey spent most of yesterday evening playing Wailers covers, although it might be that they were not trying to rub it in, but just going with what people seemed to want.
The whole thing was to raise money to bring the zoo a mate for Nisha. “Tiger Love is all good”, as one of the singers put it. And the turnout was all good too, so I’m sure they are amassing a considerable dowry. They have several more mellow Zoo musical events coming soon, and I highly recommend them.