Brunings brings spirit of Bob to Bermuda

*Photos by Hannah Collins

His high-energy performance brought the crowd to its feet during his set which started after 1am.

Brunings’ voice issurprisingly similar to that of the reggae legend himself — he manages to capture Bob’s raspy yet soulful sound. 

The accent, the intonation, the power and even cuteness that emanated from Bob Marley’s voice — it was all there. 

Brunings added his own flavour to the sound, making it a little more flowery with a modern twist.

He didn’t quite have the vocal athletics that Marley had perfected over a career such as the high-pitched warble and vibrato. 

Passion

The gig was lacking the trademark female singers that set Marley’s soulful voice off a treat, but one thing Brunings wasn’t lacking was passion — he was totally into his performance swaying, dancing, clenching his fists, pointing to the stars and just... looking a lot like Bob Marley. 

He delivered a fairly long set of classics including Stir It Up, a chilled out version of No Woman No Cry and the fantastic rendition of Redemption Song that caught The Voice judges’ attention in the first place. 

It was a good comeback from organizers Veterans In Action who had to drop their original headliner, Aaron Silk, due to immigration problems. 

The rest of the evening at the BAA Gymnasium was taken up with local performers mainly singing Bob Marley covers. 

They included Bigga and Shorta Ranks (Bigga bravely taking to the stage on crutches) who delivered their indisputable harmonies. 

Sista Mandy performed a few beautiful Marley songs including Natural Mystic and Turn You Lights Down Low. She was introduced to the stage as a fighter and a survivor of breast cancer. She told the audience that she would be returning to the stage in the near future for a charity fundraising concert.

Rivah and his band gave an electric set among many of his fellow Bermudians. 

The BAA proved the perfect venue for this type of event, the gym was fairly full — it would have been nice to have a few more people to fill out the area closest to the stage.