Damian Marley - NYC - 11/2002

Affliliates

Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley

with The Cannabis Cup Band

Tuesday, November 19, 2002

B.B. King Blues Club & Grill

New York City

As with every show the performance didn’t begin until an hour after the billed time of 8 pm. The amazing part was no one seemed upset at this at all because everyone was just enjoying the smooth reggae tunes being played by the dj and eating up delicious but over-priced food being served.

The opening act for Damian Marley took the stage at approximately 9 pm and was none other than High Time’s Cannabis Cup Band. They are a great nine-piece band complete with 3 singers. They ran through several original tunes, which the crowd only half enjoyed, but then they wisely moved into several covers of Peter Tosh and Bob Marley, which really got everyone moving. I don’t know the name of their lead guitar player but this guy was really amazing. In one song the rest of the band had no choice but to yield to his blazin’ guitar solo that seemed to take everyone to the next level. But the highlight of their set was when the band played the Diwali riddim and an unknown deejay who takes quite a liking to Anthony B. came out and really got the crowd jumping. I wish I knew the deejay’s name because he is sure to be an up and coming star as his energy and performance was through the roof.

There was a short intermission and the floor really began getting packed once everyone could tell that the night’s headliner was close to coming on stage. This time Damian was out with a much smaller 4-piece band rather than the usual 7 or 8 piece group. The MC came out and began pumping up the crowd and the band began playing a tease of “Me Name Jr. Gong” and we could here Damian from backstage chatting a few lines from the song. From there, Donovan aka Flagman, came running out on stage followed by Damian, and Rovletta, the backup singer and of course the screams from the crowd in the house were deafening. He immediately went into his set opener “Educated Fools” and proceeded to do every song off the Halfway Tree album and most from his debut, Mr. Marley. Rovletta provided very nice accents to Damian’s songs and took the parts of Stephen Marley on “It Was Written” and “Still Searching.” As he broke into “Give Dem Some Way” I expected to see Daddigan come on stage and toast as he was in the house that night but we were not that lucky. A special bonus for the crowd was an appearance by one of my personal favorites, Yami Bolo, who had flown in from California just to be at the New York show. He sang both of his parts on “Still Searching” and “Stand A Chance” but it was a little funny because you could tell it had been a while since he had performed those songs and Rovletta had to help him out on a few verses, but all in all it was smooth. After about an hour and fifteen minutes Damian left the stage and the crowd wanted more so Damian came back for his final song, “And You Be Loved.”

There was much speculation before the whole fall tour started on the East coast as many wondered if Damian could handle himself without the help of his brothers, Julian, Stephen, and Kymani who had joined him on all his other U.S. tours. But as I saw, and I’m sure everyone would agree, the aura that surrounds this young Marley is more than enough to keep the crowd up on their feet and singing along. If you haven’t seen Damian Marley live then you should definitely check him out as he makes his way into California and the west coast in February 2003. Also be on the look out for a new album from Junior Gong this year according to sources close to the Marley camp.