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Bob Marley Roots Rock Reggae Festival with the Marley brothers, Common and Toots & the Maytals, at the FleetBoston Pavilion - August 14, 2004

Legend looms large at Marley fest
By Annie Zaleski

The dreadlocked specter of Bob Marley was spotted everywhere at the sold-out FleetBoston Pavilion on Thursday night - on T-shirts, a wraparound skirt and especially onstage.

For the first time ever, five of his sons - Ziggy, Stephen, Julian, Damian and Ky-Mani - gathered for a tour that celebrated the reggae legend's legacy and influence on their own tunes.

Led by a man proudly waving a Jamaican flag high in the air - an act he impressively kept up for the entire set - the brothers emerged onstage with nearly a football team's worth of musicians in tow.

Ziggy Marley started the concert off strongly with an upbeat rendition of his father's ``Roots, Rock, Reggae.''

The quintet then proceeded to trade off singing duties on their own originals (Julian's ``Harder Dayz,'' Ziggy's ``Justice'') and their dad's classics, including a rollicking ``Kaya.''

Although the sound mix was ear-damagingly loud and extremely distorted - which made many of the vocal lines incomprehensible - the capacity crowd didn't seem to care at all. Spilling out of the seats and crowding into the aisles, they danced, clapped and cheered rapturously. The celebratory atmosphere of love and unity the tunes inspired superseded the sonic mess.

Legendary reggae godfathers Toots & the Maytals played an equally entertaining set earlier in the night. Buoyed by audience cries of ``Toooots!'' and the fleet footwork of spry leader Toots Hibbert, the Jamaican group mixed traditional reggae with skiffling ska influences. Especially notable was a reggaefied version of John Denver's ``Take Me Home, Country Roads.''

Less successful was Common, who had the misfortune of playing between the two reggae acts. His boring hip-hop set seemed completely out of place stylistically and stretched on interminably.