One Love

(Above: Ziggy Marley jumps back to his days with the Melody Makers on “Look Who’s Dancing,” one of the most energetic numbers of Marley’s recent concert in Kansas City, Mo.)

By Joel Francis
The Kansas City Star

Ziggy Marley may never escape his father’s legendary shadow, but after four decades of recording and touring, he has little to prove, either.

For more than two hours on Sunday night at Crossroads KC, Marley kept the crowd dancing and singing with a set that mostly ignored his father’s catalog and only briefly touched on his formative early career with the Melody Makers.

Nearly every Marley tune is a love song in one form or another. His laid-back philosophy of love and togetherness might sound generic until you consider how darn near impossible it has been to implement. His message of peace and unity might sound preachy on paper, but your feet would say otherwise.

ziggy-081314-jat-310f Much of the set list drew from Marley’s latest, self-titled album. Marley played seven of the record’s dozen cuts, and they made up some of the best moments of the night.

“Love Is a Rebel” is an infectious dance tune that turned into a nice bass-and-drums dub workout at the end. The gentle name given to “Butterflies” masks the strident lyrics and forceful spirit of the music, and ranks up there with the elder Marley’s best protest songs. The gospel-tinged “Amen” was another strong number.

A cover of “One Love” drew a big response early in the set. The crowd filling two-thirds of the Crossroads lawn didn’t even wait for Marley to start singing before belting out the words during the instrumental introduction. Marley returned to his dad’s catalog for “Is This Love” during the encore.

The song “Love Is My Religion” is the perfect distillation of Marley’s theology. Singing the last verse accompanied only by his guitar, Marley got the whole crowd to join in on the chorus. The next song, “We Are the People,” reinforced Marley’s point perfectly, proclaiming “we’re not donkeys or elephants.”

After the pair of serious numbers, Marley reached back to 1989 and his days with the Melody Makers for “Look Who’s Dancing.” The party was propelled by a clavinet groove that sounded like a cousin to Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition.” The song also featured a great toasting rap from the rhythm guitarist at the back of the stage.

The night ended with a note of hope and another new song. The bubbly “Weekend’s Long” lived up to its title by delaying the start of another workweek a little longer.

Setlist: Marijuanaman, Black Cat, Start It Up, Moving Forward, Amen, True to Myself, Butterflies, Forward to Love, One Love (Bob Marley cover), Beach in Hawaii, Ceceil, Love Is My Religion, We Are the People, Look Who’s Dancing. Encore: Wild and Free, Reggae in My Head, Love Is a Rebel, Is This Love (Bob Marley cover), Weekend’s Long.

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(Above: Toots and the Maytals deliver “54-46 Was My Number” to a massive French audience in 2009.)

By Joel Francis
The Kansas City Star

For four hours Sunday night, the back lot behind Grinder’s felt like a Jamaican resort.

The balmy summer weather was the perfect accompaniment to the music. Toots and the Maytals, the group that invented the word “reggae,” and the Wailers, the band that took it mainstream, celebrated both the roots and the future of the genre for a partially packed but fully appreciative audience.

While both groups feature only one founding member, it was more than enough for each ensemble. Led by bass player Aston “Family Man” Barrett, the Wailers blasted through an energetic hour of Bob Marley’s greatest hits.

The 10-piece band stuck closely to the original arrangements handed down from Mount Marley, but no one seemed to be looking for anything new. The Wailers played the hits for a crowd who had worn out their copies of “Legend” and needed no prompting to sing and dance along.

With a deck stacked so deeply, it was hard to go wrong, but a few songs stood out. “Jamming” took its title literally enough to feature some nice guitar work. “Wait In Vain” featured some nice harmony vocals from lead singer Elan Atias and the two female backing vocalists. The trio tossed the audience a curveball in the middle of that number when they worked “We Are the World” and a shout-out to Michael Jackson in the chorus.

The Wailers’ set ended with an epic medley of “Exodus” and “Punky Reggae Party.” Anchored by the wah guitar strumming and keyboard riff and garnished by horns, the 10-minute performance suggested a slithering, dancing convoy.

When “Exodus” was over, so was the set. It seemed a shame to shut down a band that felt like it was just getting start. The puzzlement was compounded by 45-minute wait before Toots and the Maytals came on.

Toots Hibbert made up for the wait between sets by opening with the song most people wanted to hear -– “Pressure Drop” -– and blasting through his best-known numbers. The music Hibbert made with the Maytals isn’t as famous as Marley’s, but it’s just as influential, mixing gospel, soul, funk and folk.

The earliest highlight wasn’t an original number, though. Hibbert and the seven-piece Maytals transformed “Louie Louie” to something that sounded like a Jamaican version of Booker T and the MGs that ended in double-time with Hibbert screaming like Ronald Isley at the end of “Shout” and verbally jousting with his two female backing singers. The trick worked so well it was reprised several times throughout the set.

A slowed-down reading of “Bam Bam” found Hibbert on acoustic guitar with an arrangement that betrayed the song’s sea shanty roots. Hibbert stayed on acoustic for a ferocious “Funky Kingston,” which more than lived up to its title. He blew a blues harp on “My Love Is So Strong” and dared the crowd to keep up with his fast dance moves several times.

The indefatigable Hibbert still has great pipes and he showed them off frequently. An improvised tribute to Kinston went from soul ballad to blues shuffle to reggae groove before getting a big gospel finish. The Maytals’ church collided with a great cover of “Take Me Home, Country Roads” that reclaimed the number from Dwight Schrute and Andy Bernard’s break room shenanigans.

The Maytals’ 95-minute set ended with romps through “Broadway Jungle” and “54-46 Was My Number” that culminated in another gospel blow-out and the band riffing on “Beat It.”

Public Property opened the evening with a 30-minute set played against the setting sun and an arriving audience. The six-piece band was definitely a disciple of the acts who followed. Their infectious set including the catchy “Choo-Choo Song.”

Setlists

The Wailers: Intro/horn instrumental, Lively Up Yourself, Rastaman Vibration, I Shot the Sheriff, Jamming, Wait In Vain ->We Are the World, Three Little Birds, One Love, Exodus/Punky Reggae Party

Toots and the Maytals: Pressure Drop, Pomp and Pride, Louie Louie, Reggae Got Soul, Time Tough, Bam Bam, Funky Kingston, unknown song, My Love is So Strong, Sweet and Dandy, Reggae Music All Right (improv), Take Me Home Country Roads, You Know, Light Your Light, Monkey Man/encore/Broadway Jungle, 54-46 Was My Number

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Tag: One Love

Review: Ziggy Marley

Review: Toots and the Maytals, the Wailers