ZIGGY MARLEY and SIERRA LEONE’S REFUGEE ALL STARS as part of LUMINATO at David Pecaut Square, Saturday, June 14. Rating: NNN
Luminato festival does a fine job of wrangling music from all corners of the world – mixing the relatively unknown with crowd-drawing star power. The fest’s penultimate evening was a good example, bringing reggae from both West Africa and Jamaica to downtown Toronto.
Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars (who met in a Guinean refugee camp during the Sierra Leone Civil War) were up first, playing an hour-long show that included the campfire-suited tunes from their newest album, Libation. Those stripped-back jams harken back to the band’s early days, but seemed a little mellow for the massive Luminato stage.
Headliner Ziggy Marley – Bob Marley’s oldest son – kicked up the energy levels with both his 10-person show and his remarkable charisma – humble and soft-spoken, the guy still has an almost divine presence.
Opening with Love Is My Religion, Wild And Free and I Don’t Wanna Live On Mars – one song from each of his last three records – Marley played a crowd-pleasing 90-minute set that touched on all the highlights of his career, inluding his family band days with the Melody Makers.
A handful of songs from his latest album, Fly Rasta, got their Toronto debut, and while the crowd certainly responded to those gently psychedelic tracks, nothing matched the energy and excitement whenever Ziggy mined Bob’s catalogue.
The square reached an entirely different gear altogether when he sang One Love late in the set: the bass was suddenly cranked, the crowd suddnely super-loud, and little clouds of smoke billowed slowly toward the sky.
