Kaya Tour
Tour by Bob Marley & The Wailers | |
Start date | 18 May 1978 |
---|---|
End date | 5 August 1978 |
Legs | 3 |
No. of shows |
40 in North America 12 in Europe 52 in total |
Bob Marley & The Wailers concert chronology |
The Kaya Tour was a concert tour organised to support the album Kaya by Bob Marley & The Wailers.
The tour was initially set to begin in early May in Miami, Florida, but the first six shows had to be postponed due to lead guitarist Junior Marvin's cocaine problems. Therefore, the tour began in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on 18 May 1978, and ended in Miami, Florida, on 5 August 1978. The tour was divided into three legs, two U.S. legs and one European leg between. Before the tour Marley performed at the One Love Peace Concert on 22 April 1978.
Numerous concerts including the performances in Paris' Pavillon Baltard were recorded in order to release a second live album, Babylon by Bus which is a compilation of songs performed in Paris as well as from earlier shows from the tours in 1975 and 1976.
On 21 July, Peter Tosh, who was on tour with the Rolling Stones and performing in Anaheim, stopped by the Starlight Bowl in Burbank (where Bob was playing) and performed "Get Up, Stand Up" with Marley. Mick Jagger is said to have watched the entire show from off stage.
On 23 July, the birthday of Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie, reincarnated God of the Rastafari movement, Marley performed in Santa Barbara and did a very rare live performance of his song Sun Is Shining.
While on the tour Marley performed for the first time in Spain and Norway, and also premiered at the Madison Square Garden.
Steel Pulse were the opening act on several of Marley's European dates on the tour.
Setlist
After the first quarter of the tour the setlists became more standardised and mostly looked like the following:
- "Positive Vibration"
- "them Belly Full (but We Hungry)"
- "Concrete Jungle"
- "Rebel Music (3 O'Clock Roadblock)"
- "the Heathen"
- "War" / "No More Trouble" (medley)
- "Running Away" / "Crazy Baldhead" (medley)
- "Crisis"
- "I Shot The Sheriff"
- "No Woman, No Cry"
- "is this Love"
- "Jamming"
- "Lively Up Yourself"
- "Easy Skanking"
- "Get Up, Stand Up"
- "Exodus"
At the beginning of the tour a Nyabinghi chant called "So Long Rastafari" (sometimes as a medley with "Time Will Tell") had been performed at the start of the show, followed by "Concrete Jungle", "Burnin' and Lootin'" and "them Belly Full (but We Hungry)". Since the Nyabinghi chant was very meditative and slow until it segued into the lively reggae beat of "Concrete Jungle", it was decided to replace the chant by the classic and instantly lively "Positive Vibration" to better catch the audience from the beginning. The same procedure was done at the beginning of the Rastaman Vibration Tour in 1976 when a medley of Nyabinghi chants, like "Lion of Judah" and "Rastaman Chant," opened the sets, but was later replaced.
It is reported that all songs from the Kaya album had been performed at least once. There are reports of various people (concert attenders, band members) that Marley did unusual long concerts in Ann Arbor MI, Lenox MA, and Oslo (Norway), each with a setlist full of rarely performed songs. There were also performances of an earlier song, "Punky Reggae Party", which is not featured on any of Marley's Island albums released at that time, but was released as a single in 1977. When performed it was part of a medley along with "Get Up, Stand Up".
From show to show sometimes an additional song was edged in somewhere in the setlist, like "Slave Driver", "Burnin' and Lootin'", "Punky Reggae Party", "Kaya", "Sun Is Shining", "Time Will Tell", "One Love", "Natural Mystic", "Waiting in Vain", "So Much Things To Say", "Talkin' Blues", "Who the Cap Fit", "Rat Race" and "Roots, Rock, Reggae". Live performances of each of these songs happened very rarely during the tour.
Tour dates
Date | City | Country | Venue |
---|---|---|---|
5 May 1978 | Miami | United States | |
6 May 1978 | Atlanta | | |
7 May 1978 | New Orleans | | |
11 May 1978 | Houston | | |
12 May 1978 | Fort Worth | | |
14 May 1978 | Austin | | |
18 May 1978 | Ann Arbor | Hill Auditorium | |
19 May 1978 | Cleveland | Public Auditorium | |
24 May 1978 | Columbus | Veterans Memorial Auditorium The Imperials opened | |
25 May 1978 | Madison | Orpheum Theater 2 shows | |
27 May 1978 | Chicago | Uptown Theatre | |
29 May 1978 | Milwaukee | Performing Arts Center 2 shows | |
30 May 1978 | Minneapolis | Northrop Auditorium | |
2 June 1978 | Pittsburgh | Stanley Theater | |
3 June 1978 | Syracuse | Landmark Theatre | |
4 June 1978 | Detroit | Detroit Masonic Temple | |
5 June 1978 | Philadelphia | The Spectrum Theater | |
8 June 1978 | Boston | Music Hall 2 shows | |
9 June 1978 | Toronto | Canada | Maple Leaf Gardens Tower of Power opened |
10 June 1978 | Montreal | Montreal Forum | |
11 June 1978 | Buffalo | United States | |
12 June 1978 | Poughkeepsie | Civic Center | |
14 June 1978 | Shelton | Pinecrest Country Club | |
16 June 1978 | Landover | Capital Centre | |
17 June 1978 | New York City | Madison Square Garden | |
18 June 1978 | Lenox | Music Inn | |
22 June 1978 | Stafford | England | New Bingley Hall |
25 June 1978 | Paris | France | Pavillon de Paris |
26 June 1978 | |||
27 June 1978 | |||
28 June 1978 | Ibiza | Spain | Plaza de Toros |
29 June 1978 | Gothenburg | Sweden | |
30 June 1978 | Stockholm | Gröna Lund | |
1 July 1978 | Roskilde | Denmark | Roskilde Festival |
2 July 1978 | Horten | Norway | Horten Festival |
4 July 1978 | Gdańsk | Poland | Hala Olivia |
7 July 1978 | Rotterdam | Netherlands | Ahoy Rotterdam |
8 July 1978 | Geleen | IJshall | |
9 July 1978 | Brussels | Belgium | Forest National |
13 July 1978 | London | England | Top of the Pops BBC TV broadcast |
14 July 1978 | Vancouver | Canada | Queen Elizabeth Theatre 2 shows |
15 July 1978 | Seattle | United States | Paramount Theatre 2 shows |
16 July 1978 | Portland | Paramount Theatre | |
18 July 1978 | Santa Cruz | Civic Center 2 shows | |
20 July 1978 | Berkeley | Greek Theater, University of California | |
21 July 1978 | Burbank | Starlight Bowl Peter Tosh Special Appearance | |
22 July 1978 | San Diego | Peterson Gym | |
23 July 1978 | Santa Barbara | Santa Barbara Bowl | |
24 July 1978 | Burbank | Starlight Bowl | |
25 July 1978 | Los Angeles | The Roxy Theater | |
27 July 1978 | Austin | Municipal Auditorium | |
28 July 1978 | Fort Worth | Tarrant County Convention Center | |
29 July 1978 | Houston | Music Hall | |
30 July 1978 | New Orleans | The Warehouse | |
1 August 1978 | Atlanta | Fox Theatre | |
5 August 1978 | Miami | Jai Alai Fronton |