Sweetwater Music Hall presents Marcia Griffiths with Sly & Robbie & the Taxi Gang; with opener, Lee Tafari
19 Corte Madera Ave, Mill Valley, CA 94941 USA
9:00 PM, Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2017 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2017 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

[8:45 PM LT is already playing when we walk in…]

1. [8:45 PM] (unidentified tune)
2. [8:46 PM] Love Party
   [8:50 PM, Lee takes off his guitar and begins spinning Jammin' on his turntable, adding toasting vox now and then. He skips through a couple other tunes incompletely, including Turn Your Lights Down Low, How Sweet It Is, another Motown tune, and maybe six or eight more fragments. Meanwhile, he dances, talks to the crowd, and generally tries to entertain us. Eventually Lee picks up his guitar for another live tune.]
3. [9:11 PM] Peace Makers
4. [9:15 PM] (unidentified tune #2)
   [9:20 PM, Lee says thanks! and jumps behind the curtain, thinking that his time is up. After about 10 seconds, he reappears. “I was foolin' with you … I have another 20 minutes”, he says, then switches back to playing vinyl until his time runs out at 9:45 PM]

[10:26 PM lights down, introduction, Taxi Gang out, followed by Fenton and one of the Reggae Angels]

1. [10:28 PM] (unidentified tune; lyrics “Get into the habit of giving what we can”)
2. [10:32 PM] (unidentified tune; lyrics “All people are one”)
   [Drop Fenton and Angel, then Fenton reappears briefly to call Marcia Griffiths up onstage, quickly followed by two harmony singers]
3. [10:36 PM] Mellow Mood » [10:41 PM] Bend Down Low tease »
4. [10:43 PM] Dreamland
5. [10:47 PM] I Shall Sing (As Long As I Live) »
6. [10:52 PM] (unidentified tune; lyrics “I wanna be closer, I wanna be loved”, implies Closer to You; handwritten setlist says Nanny Goat) »
7. [10:55 PM] Fire Burning
8. [10:59 PM] One Draw
9. [11:05 PM] Live On (co-lead with m harmony vox; additional toasting by Leaf of Life)
10. [11:10 PM] You Don't Love Me (No, No, No)
11. [11:15 PM] Back in the Days » World A Reggae (Out In The Street They Call It Murder) tease
12. [11:21 PM] Stepping Out of Babylon
13. [11:25 PM] 54-46 (That's My Number)
14. [11:31 PM] Buffalo Soldier
15. [11:34 PM] Could You Be Loved »
16. [11:39 PM] Redemption Song
17. [11:42 PM] Electric Boogie
    [set ends 11:47 PM all off, no encore]

• Marcia Griffiths: vox;

Sly & Robbie & the Taxi Gang or Sly & Robbie

• Franklyn Bubbler Waul: keyboards;
• Lowell 'Sly' Dunbar: drums;
• Robbie Shakespeare: bass;
• ? Winston Bowen ?: guitar;
• ?: fem harmony vox;
• ?: male lead & harmony vox;

• Leaf of Life: toasting vox.

Reggae Angels

• ? Cynthia Roots OR Angelica Wardle?: harmony vox;
• Fenton Wardle: vox.

• Lee Tafari: acoustic guitar, percussion, vox;

Lee Tafari started things off with a memorable set: Acoustic to Vinyl, exactly as described. It was pretty fun, though not really the sort of thing I was hoping to see tonight.

During setbreak, rumors spread that there would be another opener (aiyah! another late night?), but thankfully, this turned out to be only partly true, as Fenton and an unidentified Reggae Angel performed a pair of tunes with Sly and Robbie and the Taxi Gang before giving way to Marcia Griffiths. Marcia regaled us with an interesting mix of her own tunes and classic reggae cuts by other artists. Musically, the set was super fun to dance to: steaming hot, live and dubby! Taxi Gang is super tight, and I would love to hear them again soon. It's a shame that no one took time to introduce the whole band, as they were all good.

And either I wasn't paying attention, or the show just sort of crumbled apart at the end of Electric Boogie. Marcia got the dancers from the audience to leave the stage, then walked off herself while the band wrapped things up. Then they just got up and left. No group hug. No bows. No “say nitey night and wave bye-bye.” And shortly thereafter, the house lights came up. Strange! I was kinda disappointed, but what can you do? When they turn up the lights, the party's over…

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2017 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2017 event list! ☸ On to the next event!