Concert Review: Ziggy Marley

I reviewed this show for the St. Paul Pioneer Press on Wednesday. Review is posted below. On a completely unrelated note, who is behind the global conspiracy to make CDs so hard to open? I spent about 15 minutes (or so it felt!) trying to open a Los Lonely Boys CD yesterday. I get to review LLB this Sunday and CANNOT WAIT! I am a confessed SRV fanatic and LLB have such a great SRV-sound to them. Also the one time before I've seen them live - opening for Santana - they almost blew the roof off the Xcel Energy Center. Beter yet, this is a rare outdoor show, which doesn't happen all that often up here in the Great White North. Can't wait and what a great Father's Day it will be! Anyway, here's Ziggy:

By John Nemo
Special to the Pioneer Press

Give Ziggy Marley credit – who else could get so many middle-aged white men shaking their rear ends in such unabashed fashion? That was the case Wednesday night at the Minnesota Zoo, where Marley’s upbeat reggae music had a sellout crowd of 1,500 shaking its proverbial booty for almost two hours.

Marley, 38, is the son of reggae legend Bob Marley, and first sat in on one of his late father’s recording sessions at the age of 10. Ziggy and several siblings later formed the Melody Makers, a group that went on to win three Grammys before disbanding for good in the late 1990s.

Ziggy is a solo act now, and started off Wednesday’s outdoor show – part of the annual “Music in the Zoo” summer series – with “Black Cat,” a cut off his latest album, “Love is My Religion.”

The dance party began almost immediately, with everyone in the crowd – from fifty-somethings in shirts and shorts to an energetic twenty-something popping wheelies and bouncing around in his wheelchair – got his or her groove on.

Marley was at the center of it all, dressed in a long sleeved denim shirt, blue jeans and tennis shoes and wearing his dreadlocked hair all the way down to his waist. A seven piece backing band – including a drummer and two percussionists – and a pair of backup vocalists joined him onstage for the high-energy performance, which featured plenty of familiar reggae guitar riffs, several nice solos and an omnipresent backbeat of percussion.

As the sun went down and darkness descended upon the zoo’s outdoor amphitheater, Marley moved through a set that blended rock, hip hop, reggae and African drumming, culminating with some of his famous father’s hits, including “Jammin” and “Get Up, Stand Up.”

Although he barely spoke between songs and never acknowledged what city, state or universe he was in Wednesday, Marley had the crowd in the palm of his hand anyway, bouncing around and seeming possessed by the music as his body shivered and shook to the beat.

The feeling seemed contagious, as people of every shape, size and age stood together and danced as if nobody was watching. Marley ended the evening with his new album’s title track, “Love is My Religion.”