Post by BMC on Mar 11, 2006 0:40:21 GMT
Show time again in Amsterdam tonight. Paradiso the venue and Damian 'Jr. Gong' Marley the performer. Venue was packed: a completely sold out night (just like yesterday) and the vibe of the very mixed audience was excellent. We came in just after the support act was finished (no idea who they were) and the soundsystem was playing plenty of wicked recent tunes to warm up the crowd. Placed ourselves in a good position and some 20 minutes later the Empire band got on stage and started with playing an instrumental medley of some Bob Marley tunes. The sound was very good and they played the tunes very tight and it sounded excellent: promising start. Then Damian Marley was called on stage and together with a flag-waver (who kept waving the red-gold-green with lion of judah flag during the whole show) he entered the stage during the intro of Confrontation (opening tune of the latest CD) and the show started off very energetic with the two female backing singers dancing and singing just as energetically (what they kept on doing all show, very nice!). I had the impression he had a bit of a hard time following the riddim with his singing of this tune, but nice opening still. His voice was a bit clearer, less rough than on disc but still good. The show continued for about an hour and contained tunes like It Was Written, Khaki Suit (stopped right before the Bounty Killer part of the tune), There For You, Road To Zion (without the NAS part), Me Name Jr Gong, Move! (the Exodus remake from the latest album), Hey Girl (even the vocoder start was sampled; tune sounded live better than on record imo) and a few more I think.
Besides these own tunes he also did a few Marley covers like Crazy Baldhead (followed after Me Name Jr Gong in the same riddim), War / No More Trouble and Could You Be Loved. The latter became interesting when he started to do some own singjay-style on the riddim, but overall just a real crowd-pleaser. For all these tunes the band was really good imo. Tight and musically very complete even though there were no horns. The Bob Marley tunes sounded much better than they sound when many others play 'm, but also the Jr. Gong tunes, both roots style and dancehall style sounded very good. Jr. Gong himself sang well and gave a nice show, though his backing singers danced and moved more than he did. At some points I got a bit the impression that it was just a next show for him; kinda static in his moving and not so much interaction (besides the obvious "repeat after me" and "show me the lighters" type of things). Don't get me wrong, he was good and did interact, it's just that to me it didn't looked as if he was enjoying himself a lot too. Anyway, as said, it was good and the crowd response clearly proofed they were enjoying it a lot.
After Could You Be Loved he and the band left the stage to return after a few minutes of immense shouting from the crowd. As the encore he played For The Babies (odd choice to come back with imo, and didn't work very well for the crowd either, but ok), a Bob Marley medley of tunes like Lively Up Yourself, Who The Cap Fit, Top Ranking, Bad Card and Zimbabwe (plus maybe one or two more) and ofcourse he finished with the murderous Welcome To Jamrock which, as to be expected, was very well received and got the place rocking to the very end. All in all a very nice and entertaining evening again with an excellent band and a very good show from Damian Marley, even though it were the female backing singers that showed most of the excitement on stage.
Besides these own tunes he also did a few Marley covers like Crazy Baldhead (followed after Me Name Jr Gong in the same riddim), War / No More Trouble and Could You Be Loved. The latter became interesting when he started to do some own singjay-style on the riddim, but overall just a real crowd-pleaser. For all these tunes the band was really good imo. Tight and musically very complete even though there were no horns. The Bob Marley tunes sounded much better than they sound when many others play 'm, but also the Jr. Gong tunes, both roots style and dancehall style sounded very good. Jr. Gong himself sang well and gave a nice show, though his backing singers danced and moved more than he did. At some points I got a bit the impression that it was just a next show for him; kinda static in his moving and not so much interaction (besides the obvious "repeat after me" and "show me the lighters" type of things). Don't get me wrong, he was good and did interact, it's just that to me it didn't looked as if he was enjoying himself a lot too. Anyway, as said, it was good and the crowd response clearly proofed they were enjoying it a lot.
After Could You Be Loved he and the band left the stage to return after a few minutes of immense shouting from the crowd. As the encore he played For The Babies (odd choice to come back with imo, and didn't work very well for the crowd either, but ok), a Bob Marley medley of tunes like Lively Up Yourself, Who The Cap Fit, Top Ranking, Bad Card and Zimbabwe (plus maybe one or two more) and ofcourse he finished with the murderous Welcome To Jamrock which, as to be expected, was very well received and got the place rocking to the very end. All in all a very nice and entertaining evening again with an excellent band and a very good show from Damian Marley, even though it were the female backing singers that showed most of the excitement on stage.