The festival's sole West Coast show took place at Del Mar Fairgrounds' famed betting track after the morning's races. Openers Common Sense provided a retro-sounding reggae vibe early in the evening, favoring the bass-heavy grooves and skanking beats that were prominent among roots reggae pioneers. Despite having no Marleys in the lineup, The Orange County Quintet's set proved their musical lineage to Bob and a strong roots reggae sensibility. Later, Julian and Ziggy Marley wrapped up the night's festivities with live sets of their own.
Julian Marley has been performing his father's music since the age of five, when he recorded "Slave Driver" at the Tuff Gong studios. Since then, Julian has honored his father's legacy by co-producing the Bob Marley remix albumChant Down Babylon with his brother Stephen and naming his backup band the Uprising, after one of his father's final studio albums. He has also recorded two versatile albums of original music, Lion in the Morning and A Time and Place, and co-founded Ghetto Youths International foundation with his brothers Ziggy, Stephen and Damian. Julian's performance at Roots, Rock, Reggae preceded a set from his famed collaborator and older brother, Ziggy Marley.
Perhaps the most high-profile of Bob's music-making children, Ziggy Marley has broke into the world's consciousness with the Melody Makers, the reggae group he founded with his siblings Stephen, Sharon and Cedella in the 1980s. More recently, he has recorded two popular solo albums (including the Grammy-winning Love is My Religion,) voiced a character in the in the CGI family movie Shark Tale and been recognized for his copious charity work, which includes founding the U.R.G.E. (Unlimited Resources Giving Enlightenment) charity for underprivileged children.
He has also been a prominent supporter of the Little Kids Rock nonprofit, which provides instruments and musical education to public school children. But Ziggy's best-known work remains musical in nature, as he showed in all of his contributions to this summer's festival.
The tour also made East Coast stops at Pier Six Pavilion in Baltimore, MD and at Wolf Trap Vienna, VA. Both events featured sets by Ziggy and Stephen, with special appearances by Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley, Barrington Levy and SOJA.
"Seeing Ziggy, Stephen and Damian sing their father's songs was quite a humbling experience," offered Dawn Miceli and Drew Domkus of "The Dawn and Drew Show," a podcast that broadcasted live from the East Coast shows.
"For Ziggy's set, I think one of the highlights was listening to him play the drums on a couple of songs, and of course just hearing him sing is always a pleasure," they wrte in an email. "Stephen's highlights were watching his son on stage dancing and swinging a flag, and then having Damian and Ziggy join him on stage for a few songs...it was a very diverse and peaceful crowd with lots of Bob Marley t-shirts and plenty of people with dreadlocks in the audience. Hardly a song went by that didn't have the crowd joining in."
The duo also counted Ziggy's performances of his father's songs among the highlights, including concert-opener "Redemption Song," "Buffalo Soldier," "Three Little Birds" and of course, the Rastaman Vibration track that gave the festival its name, "Roots, Rock, Reggae."
Bob Marley's songs will undoubtedly be performed for generations to come by a diverse array of artists. But Marley's sons are among the most adept at delivering their father's music and message, and regardless of their history and family name, Ziggy, Julian, Stephen and Damian Marley are some of the world's finest reggae talents.
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