Roots Archives Forum

Forget about the down loads for a bit we all know it happens i want to know wats going on around the world with artist at live giggs for example there is LUCIANO, FREDDIE MCGREGOR, RICHIE SPICE. SIZZLA,MIDNITE, GROUND NATION, MORGAN HERITAGE, even the old timers like CULTURE, GLADIATORS, THE ABASINIONS,BURNING SPEAR,these guys are still keeping ROOTS REGGAE a live may be some of you guys were lucky enough to go to a DENNIS BROWN, BOB MARLEY, OR EVEN ALTON ELIS, gigs share the experience tell us the country and venue may be you thought it was too much money THE ARTIST DIDNT SPEND ENOUGH TIME ON STAGE! or may be you were just happy with ever thing

never forget about the downloads,
or the live concerts available everywhere..
Up em mon!!!!

Best show I've ever been to...

Luciano four years ago in Portland, Maine. It was on H.I.M.'s birthday. The venue only held around 200 people, but Luci really put something extra into that show. 2 1/2 hours of breathtaking and inspired performance. I'm not sure if it was because it was Selassie's b-day or not, but Luciano was wrapped up in the spirit that night.

Worst show ever...

Yellowman last year at the same venue. Only around 35 people showed up, and most of them only knew about 3 of his songs. He would start up a MASSIVE tune, I would be the only one to react, and he would stop the tune and say something like, "Yuh cyan tell mi yuh no know dat one?" The crowd didn't even know they were being made fun of. It was like a train wreck.

Other notable shows...

- VP Records 20th anniversary show in Madison Square Garden, New York City (2000 ?). Buju, Beres, Luciano, Freddie McGreggor, Sizzla, Beenie, and many more.

- Dancehall Bashment Night of Sumfest '98, Montego Bay, Jamaica. Beenie, Bounty, Vegas, Lady Saw, Elephant Man (still with Scare Dem Crew), Sean Paul (still with Dutty Cup Crew), Lady G, Spragga Benz, and many more.

- My first reggae show ever... Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers at the University of Southern Maine back in '93(?). Got there real early and helped some roadies carry some equipment into the venue...ended up getting to play soccer with Ziggy and the band before they even did soundcheck. I'm not the biggest Ziggy fan now, but as a kid that was a dream come true.

one of the best:
legends of roots - live at the astoria london 2005- israel vibration with sinead o' connor - the meditations- wailing souls- junior delgado band.
steel pulse - caracas venezuela 2005.
ziggy marley- margarita island 1992.
culture-luciano-dean fraser-mikey spice maracay venezuela 1999.
skatalites- caracas venezuela 1998.
burning spear- new york 1994.
abyssinians - amsterdan 2000.
barrington levy - london 2005.

worths show mikal rose and some amateur band live in caracas 2003 sorry mikal show suks.

LEE SCRATCH PERRY with the SUPER APE KILLICON SQUAD
aka MAD PROF and band.
supported by DRY&HEAVY (Japan)

In Tokyo 2000,Pressure Sounds Conference 001.

DRY&HEAVY were wicked and Scratch was amazing.

well worth it... saw him in Brisbane, Aust.
outdoors with MAD PROF again a few years later
but it was poor..but he did say that we are all pink inside

I-Man's only 12 years old so i havent been to that many concerts but i've seen Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley, Buju Banton and Chuck Fenda "da poor people defenda". I live in denmark where there really isnt to many concerts.

although i've seen hundreds of bands since i started going to concerts in 1997, i've only ever been to a single reggae concert in my life; however, it was to see lee 'scratch' perry and mad professor! HAHAHA. so if i only had a chance to have seen one thing, at least i picked wisely!

this was in march of 1999, in houston, texas, of all places and it was at A PUNK CLUB named fitzgerald's, which used to be an old amish dancehall in the 50s and 60s.

i had known very little about dub at the time, (i was about 16/17) but i had read up a bit about it and bought the ARKOLOGY 3 cd set and i was really impressed by the music (i hadn't gotten to fully appreciate the "dub aspect" of it). i actually convinced a friend of mine to come with me (he smoked pot, he "liked reggae," [which meant that he had like, you know, a bob marley greatest hits cd or something] and most importantly, he had the $27 to get in, which NO ONE else wanted to pay). i hadn't gotten hip to going alone to concerts at that time (which is funny, because that's my number one perferred way of seeing music now).

we got there ridiculously early (like 8:30 / 9) and there were like 5 people there. i got confused because i naively thought , "what? 5 people here to see the great upsetter?" but then i asked the club and they told me that he was supposed to go on at midnight. so yeah, back then, i was too young to drink and equally too young to leave and come back, so i was kind of screwed into talking to my friend about his single bob marley cd for a couple of hours.

there were 2 other bands i think, i can't remember who exactly, but i think i remember perry mentioning something about the white belly rats being his backing band when he finally came on. mad professor ran the sound the entire night for all the bands and it was amazing hearing all that dub shit live, because all the levels were mixed PERFECTLY.

anyway, at midnight, amidst a cloud of spliff smoke, perry walked on stage in a wizard costume (complete with a pointed hat) and a microphone that had all sorts of trinkets (including a coconut for a handle!) glued onto it. luckily, there were at least 250 people there and the club was pretty small, so it was nice and packed and the crowd was VERY enthusiastic. my friend had walked around and some real hard-hitting jamaicans let him puff on their joints and he later told me that the concert was "ESPECIALLY awesome" for him.
i wish i could remember more of the actual songs that perry did, but what i remember the most was the live sound, which was simply incredible. easily the best live sound i'd EVER heard: everything perfectly clear, all the tings and drops, echoes and reverbed snare, the flanged guitars and organ cutting in and out; it was truly almost an aurally "psychedelic" experience for me. perry, between smoking NON STOP (i saw him go through at least 6 or 7 spliffs, and that had only been the first half hour!), would say the most hilarious things about completely random topics and then his band would just start up a new song. him and his band played for about an hour and a half i think... i think one of the last things that they did was the riddim for "chase the devil," with perry toasting over it.

anyway, i can't really remember anything besides the fact that i LOVED the show, and that that was the only time in my life when i actually went up to the sound guy to tell him how great everything sounded (the professor just smiled and gave me a thumbs up). i haven't seen anything else since then, but i'm kind of hard pressed to think that i'll ever get the chance to see something THAT good ever again anyway.

Black Uhuru/Yellowman/SagitarriusBand
"1990" Celebrity Theatre---Anaheim

Great show on a 'revolving' stage...
The Don Carlos Era...
It was the tour for the album 'NOW".
My first show, very memorable yet so foggy.

http://cdn-19.cdn.buzznet.com/assets/us ... 386621.jpg


Other memorable but foggy...

Burning Spear---1991---Long Beach Arena
Steel Pulse---199?---Greek Theatre, Los Angeles
HR---1993---Rainbow Lagoon, Long Beach

Mighty Diamonds (MY FAVORITE)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OylPDhCn ... 20diamonds
Burning Spear (Every show is at least 2 hours)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7ytBZwb ... ng%20Spear
"Grigry" (shows in Jamaica are short, USA shows long and sweeeet)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xBud_sJFEg&NR
LUCIANO (same as Spear, 2 hours and heart and soul in every show, sweat, cry, bible, pass out di weed) SMILES~
CULTURE..seen dem 5 times dis year and again in November....Joseph Hill...booom~
Late 80's @ the REAL SUNSPLASH, saw on stage all at once, Dennis Brown, John Holt, Grigry....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKwlOWqA ... is%20brown

FRANKIE PAUL (had to be dragged off the stage, him nah wanna stop singing..old KEISER CAFE in NAYGRIL..memba dat venue?)
Nuff fi now..so many, so likkle time~