September 29, 2007
Ziggy Marley “Into The Groove” at the Greek Theatre
It was a cool September night for the Mercedes-Benz “Wave Fest” at the Greek Theatre in Hollywood California. This festival was put on by radio station 94.7 “The Wave,” who describes themselves as “cool jazz.”
The show opened with jazz keyboardist Philip Saisse and his trio, and then followed by flamenco style guitarist Ottmar Liebert. This was a different type of audience for Ziggy. It was an example of how his music is crossing over into different realms.
The crowd trickled in for the opening acts but was quite full by the time Ziggy went onstage. He opened with his bluesy/jazzy “Melancholy Mood,” and then went into his slow reggae groove of “Make Some Music.”
The first of his father’s songs that he sang was “War” which was taken from a speech made by Haile Selassie. The audience was a “sit back and enjoy” type of crowd, which was different then his normal standing and arms waving reception, but Ziggy had them standing and dancing by mid set. He performed with his guitar for almost the whole set, except during the song “Looking” from his “Dragonfly” CD when he took off his guitar and danced and sang very energetically. Then he went back to his guitar for “A Lifetime” and “Is This Love” another of his dad’s songs. He got a fantastic response from the audience during this song. The other Bob Marley songs that he performed were “Rastaman Vibration” and “Lively Up Yourself,” which did just that to the crowd.
He did a variety of songs from his CD’s “Conscious Party,” “One Bright Day,” “Dragonfly,” and “Love Is My Religion,” the title track of which he closed the show to resounding applause.
The headliner for this night was India Arie. She is a great performer. We weren’t approved to photograph and cover her…we were only approved for Ziggy
I loved seeing Ziggy in this setting where he could receive exposure from a wider listening base than just his reggae audience. He is a very contemporary song writer not limited to but including reggae. Big up to Ziggy! You did a great job of getting the crowd grooving to your music.
ZIGGY MARLEY AT MYSPACE.COM
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