I wouldn’t call myself a huge reggae fan. The only times I’ve listened to it is in a matatu or back in my second year of university when I spent an entire semester hazed from smoking weed and my housemates and I played Bob Marley songs. Other than those two situations, I hardly listen to it.
So when I got the invite to attend the Street Fusion concert that had Damian Marley as the headliner, I wasn’t prepared to enjoy it, for the simple reason that the idea of listening to reggae music all night did not appeal to me. This, coupled by the fact that I only knew two of Damian Marley’s songs was a recipe for a long night in my books.
I arrived at the Carnivore Gardens at 7pm. The concert didn’t start until about 9.30pm. The security checkpoints were strict and thorough and one was not allowed re-entry. I appreciated this.
The venue was small so there wasn’t much to look at to while away the time. So after a very brief tour, I found a spot the front near the stage and began to Google, furiously about Damian Marley.
Two and half hours is a pretty long time to wait for anything. By the time the MC got on stage and started to hype the crowd for the upcoming performances, I was tired and more than ready to go home.
This quickly changed. One, when you’re front row in a concert, whether you like or not, you’re going to get in character and start enjoying yourself. Usually, the people at the front are the artist’s most adoring fans and their energy is going to rub off on you eventually. Two, the MC was charismatic and the music mixes played by DJs were so good, I found myself jamming along.
The first act of the night was Khalighraph Jones. He’s a talented rapper and I am big fan of his music but he wasn’t the best choice for an opening act. His performance brought a lull to the upbeat mood that had already been set by DJ Cremè through his dancehall set. This sentiment was shared by the crowd around me which wasn’t very receptive to his music and at some point booed and screamed that he leave the stage. He took it all in stride and like a true performer, kept the show going until the end of his set, ending it with ‘Toa Tint’, which the crowd seemed to love.
For me, Jua Kali had the best performance of the supporting acts followed by Wyre. Their music was nostalgic, taking me back to my childhood when ‘Kiasi’, ‘Bidii Yangu’ and ‘Bless my room’ were chart toppers.
Jah Lyric and The Roots Connection Band were the final performance before Damian Marley got on stage.
It’s safe to say I was in full on reggae mode. I was ire. The event was weed friendly, with lighters being flicked and blunts being lit and shared among the fans. Pictures of the Marijuana leaf filled the screens on stage. We exercised discretion though, while smoking, weed is still, after all, considered an illegal substance in Kenya.
Damian ‘Jr. Gong’ Marley is a presence. I am yet to be moved by a performance they way I was moved by his. He got on stage, a motif of Haile Selassie and The Lion of Judah on the screen behind him. His hype man waved the Rastafarian flag as he performed.
For the first few minutes, all I did was stare at his dreadlocks. When I snapped back, I immersed myself fully into the show. It’s easy to see why he has so many super fans. He engaged with the crowd, pausing to urge us to sing along and when the crowd screamed encore, he gave us more, performing for an extra hour.
He took us through a timeline of his music, playing some of his older songs like ‘Affairs of the Heart’ before transitioning to some of his newer music like ‘Nail Pon Cross’ and ‘Medication’. He also performed some of his father’s most cherished oldies such as ‘Could you be loved’ and ‘ Is this love’.
Before he took a bow, he performed his Grammy Award winning and most well known song, ‘Welcome to Jamrock’.
Last night was a great night. I walked into the concert sceptical about how it would turn out and left softly humming to ‘Medication’.
Below is a snippet of his performance
(Photo credit – Allan Gichigi)