Ziggy Marley Live at Vicar St June 27th 2011
Review by Vanessa Monaghan
Photos by Ian Keegan
Following his first Irish gig at Sea Sessions at the weekend, Ziggy Marley headed to Vicar St for his first Dublin gig.
The eclectic audience was growing in size as Dubtown Vibration came to the stage. The six piece were accompanied by The Dubblerettes on backing vocals. Throughout their set the female fronted outfit, showed good musicianship, good harmonies and a quiet confidence on stage, with singer Karen Hammond interacting well with the Vicar St audience.
Playing originals, they included their tracks, ‘Are You Ready?’ and ‘Money’, showing a variation in sound and structure. Their lyrics are very much based in contemporary everyday life, which obviously echoed with the audience from the reaction they got. The set also included an inspired cover, Max Romeo’s Chase the Devil, better known to many as the bit from the Prodigy’s Out of Space, before finishing with ‘Dubtown Vibration.’ Good introduction to the band, perfect for setting the vibe for Ziggy.
The band are already on stage and repeating the opening riffs of ‘Tomorrow People’ before Ziggy Marley comes to the stage. Without any effort the audience are singing and dancing along. They go straight into ‘Conscious People’. There’s extra percussion going on now and it seems that Ziggy can’t stay still, if he’s not singing he’s dancing his ass off.
After two songs, it’s clear why (apart from Bob being his Dad) this guy is part of reggae royalty. His band play with a effortless professionalism and their sound is polished, perfect. The balance in the instrumentation leaves others behind.
The laid back vibe of the gig doesn’t take long to get used to and everyone in the venue seems to be there to dance, heads bobbing to the rhythm of the music. Ziggy says hello to the Dublin audience and says he’s happy to be here before starting into a little rap to introduce ‘Make Some Music’.
There is so much more to this gig than I was expecting, the laid back vibe immediately chills you out where rock gigs try to get your temperature going and indie kids are trying to be cool. Throughout the set, the band incorporate elements of rock, rap, dance and even a little country into the laid back vibe. It works so well. The female vocal harmony that accompanies Marley is a perfect addition to his vocals. Guitar solos throughout the night are so flawless that any of rock’s big guns would be proud of them.
A phasered guitar sound sends the audience wild as it introduces ‘Stir It Up’. Hands in the air, the house lights come on as the audience take their turn to sing. The title track from Ziggy’s ‘Wild and Free’ gets an airing and ‘Justice’ gets Marley dancing again. He just doesn’t stop.
Marley doesn’t say much to the audience, most interaction seems to come from dancing raising his arms in the air. On command of his hand, the audience sing ‘Reggae in My Head’ and ‘Black Cat’.
The audience are having a good time but ripples of questions if he would play some of his Dad’s music are answered with ‘Is this Love’. A faster paced version than Bob’s original drives the crowd into a frenzy with the biggest cheer of the night. Cleverly Ziggy has made this version his own while remaining true to his Dad’s memory.
He never mentions his Dad or acknowledges that he played ‘Is This Love’, instead he keeps the uptempo vibe going with ‘Your Hope Is My Religion’. By now the audience have gone from purely dancing to jumping up and down. For ‘Look Who’s Dancing’ given the standing room only in Vicar St. tonight, there is quite a festival vibe.
An encore of ‘Jammin’ leaves the crowd with no doubt that Ziggy Marley is the King of Reggae. It’s a pity the show didn’t start earlier so he could play for longer and running for last buses are a killer. Really good night’s entertainment, very relaxing and enjoyable, I’d definitely go see Ziggy Marley again.