Welcome to Jamdown.
Man, I've seen some killer shows at the St James. Sly and Robbie with Mykal Rose, James Brown, The Roots, Parliament-Funkadelic and now I get to see Damian 'Junior Gong'’ Marley, offspring of Bob, and the man responsible for the biggest reggae song of 2005 right around the planet, Welcome to Jamrock.
You can thank the folks of the East Coast Roots and Blues Festival over in Australia for the stellar run of international acts coming our way over the next few weeks -– Sigur Ros, Skatalites, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, Jamie Cullum, Public Enemy (cancelled), all sorts. Still a trip to Oz and you get all of those acts plus Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings AND Amadou and Mariam (and hats off to Cornerstone Roots and Batucada Sound Machine for getting on the bill). Me, I'm just happy a large pot of money fell out of the sky on Monday and suddenly I had the bucks to go and see Damian Marley, cos last week I had given up on scraping the dosh together.
I arrive and manage to catch the closing number of Katchafire. There was a bunch of conflicting information on who was supporting Damien Marley prior to the gig Anika Moa and band said the morning's paper and the gig posters, but the ticket said Katchafire. Marley's band then set up and arrived shortly after 9.30, and warmed up with a quick blast of Bob Marley instrumentals. Great, they're getting that out of the way,I thought. Wrong (more on that later). If I'’d arrived a bit earlier I might have caught one of Katchafire'’s 500+ Bob Marley covers, which would have allowed to opportunity for cheeky putdowns, but no.
Damian Marley bounces onstage and launches into his first tune, dreadlocks down to his waist, in a dark blue military suit. HeÂ's a little ball of energy, with his singjay-style vocal delivery. He proves himself to be a fine performer, talking with the crowd, introducing the songs, smiling at the applause, the warmth of the welcome. Mid-set he launched into a few of his dad's tunes, War, We don't need no more trouble, and a very muscular version of Could you be loved. Then the guitarist starts picking out the guitar line from Exodus, and Damian launches into his tune Move, which lifts the melody of Exodus for the chorus, then bounces into a fierce dancehall rhythm for the verse. Killer. And the audience can sing along to the chorus, so that'’s handy.
Special mention to the two female backing singers, dressed in tan army jackets, singing and swinging inna mean fashion, all attitude, no platitude. Damn! His band are tight, and he really does employ someone to walk round the stage waving a flag with Rastafarian colours for the entire set. Dread with serious arm muscles.
He finished the set, walked off, but came back for obligatory encore (still hadn'’t played Jamrock, so where was he going, aye?), and asked how many of you are Bob Marley fans, raise your hand? Well he asked, and I do like a few of his pop's tunes, so why not? Then we get another Bob medley, which draws out a big crowd singalong.
There is this strange expectation that if you say you like reggae, you must like Bob Marley, and if you don't you can't be a true reggae fan. That'’s like saying in order to say you like hiphop, you must like the most well-known artist in that genre - say, Eminem, or 50 cent. Or saying you like rock, so you must own lots of Elvis Presley, right? A lot of the crowd around me stood still for a lot of the set, waiting for the songs they knew, which I'm guessing were the singles, or his dad's tunes. Mind you, the kids down front jumped up and down most of the night, so don'’t get the wrong impression. Much dancing was had by many, even those upstairs
He may live in his father's shadow, but when he sings his father's songs, he doesn't have the voice to carry them off -– to his credit, he has his own voice, ably demonstrated on the closing tunes of the evening, Road to Zion, and Welcome to Jamrock. Exit Junior Gong, show over. Damian Marley killed it. Respect.
Extra credit: If you want to know what you missed, check the live video footage from 2004 at his website. Interview in the SMH... "You have to have something going for you when you're the offspring of Bob Marley and Miss World. Meet Damian Marley." Link and Damian Marley videos, interviews to watch on Youtube).
1 comment:
It's quite funny to see the reaction of serious fans to Bob Marley's music. While there is a fair amount of cheese (remember the funeral scene from 'The Beach`), a large body of Bob Marley's music still sounds fresh (to me anyhow). However, the cringe factor still looms large. Funnily enough, up here in the world's largest reggae fandom (Japan), Bob is a blip on the radar except among the aging hippies. I've seen a lot of cover bands Kween, the Damones, Paradise City, but never a Bob Marley tibute band.
I remember seeing the Wailers with Junior Murvin fronting in Whangarei circa 1986. Apart from a hardcore Black Power contingent launching joints the size of grenades at the stage, I've never regretted the live regaae experience.
Post a Comment