One Love Festival tour @ House of Blues 6/2/02
click here to see pics by issa kelly

By Steve Serpiente

CHICAGO - If veteran promoter Copeland Forbes' goal was to bring a representative sampling of reggae genres to the American masses, consider the mission accomplished and then some in the form of the One Love Festival tour.

Featuring ska/early reggae legend Toots, contemporary cultural singer Luciano, conscious DJ Tony Rebel, dancehall duo Tanto Metro & Devonte and saxophonist extraordinaire Dean Fraser, plus leading soundsystem Stone Love (with Rory at the controls), the tour's Chicago stopover was a parade through Jamaican music past and present.   

On entering the House of Blues at 8:45 p.m., Chicagoreggae crew found the show had started promptly as longtime Kingston session musician/arranger Dean Fraser was blowing a mellow sax line over a relaxed reggae beat. Fraser's show soon picked up with a Bob Marley medley of "Big Axe / Jammin' / Africa Unite."  Fraser ended his brief set with an impassioned version of Marley's "Redemption Song." That Fraser's portion of the show was highlighted by Marley covers belies the fact that the stellar saxist has been instrumental as an arranger with heavyweight producers such as Sly & Robbie and Phillip "Fattis" Burrell. He has also released several quality solo projects.

Clad in a long white shirt, matching pants and a blue bandana holding back his dreads, Tony Rebel next took the stage at 9:05 p.m. and pumped up the crowd with his hip hop flavored hit "Loyal Soul Jah" from his latest record, Realms of Rebel. Powered by drummer Alfonso Wilson, the Rebel showcased some of Jamaica's classic riddims on "Jah Will Never Let Us Down" (on Jo Jo Bennett's Lecturer riddim), "Hypocrites" (voiced over the Wailing Souls' Things and Time riddim), "Sweet Jamaica" (on Eric Donaldson's Cherry Oh Baby riddim), "Fresh Vegetable" (on John Holt's A Love I Can Feel riddim), and "Chatty Chatty" (utilizing Larry Marshall's Nanny Goat riddim). Rebel offered up "High Grade," in which he endorses good herb as an obvious means to buoy the economy. He also performed "Just Friends" (originally recorded by Rebel and Swade) in a duet with backup singer Honeycomb. The Rebel then brought out the radiant Queen Ifrica for her voicing of her followup to "Just Friends" titled "He's My Bredren." Rebel ended his set with a suave, salsa-fied Spanish version of "Jah Is By My Side" (en espanol se llama "Si Jah Esta A Lado De Me.")

Tanto Metro & Devonte followed Mr. Rebel with a diverse set of dancehall theatrics, the most entertaining of which pitted the pair in an opera singing duel. The two also squared off in a competetion in singing bits of old Motown tunes. After having been clearly defeated, Tanto sought refuge in familiar territory by launching into some good old fashioned rude dancehall lyrics. Other highlights of the tandem's show were their hits "Better Body," "Suzie" and their latest score (as featured on the VP Records compilation Reggae Gold 2002) "Give It to Her."

Introduced at 10:35 p.m., Luciano burst onstage with "It's Me Again Jah" (sung over the Soul Vendors' A House Is Not a Home riddim) from his 1995 critically acclaimed Where There Is Life release. (Big ups to Dean Fraser for his work on horns on that Fattis Burrell produced album). Dressed in full khaki military regailia complemented by black combat boots and his trademark ornamental hat styled after those worn in the rice fields of Cambodia, Jah Messenjah enhanced his visual presence by darting around stage, doing flips, jumping and standing on speakers above the dancefloor. Like Tony Rebel, Luciano is a master at revamping the riddims from the early days of Studio One and Treasure Isle, creating fresh new classics in the process. Among the riddims revitalized this night by Luciano and Jahmessenjah Band (built around bassist Maurice "Jah Lloyd" Duncan, guitarist Winston "Bo Pee" Bowen and saxophonist Sean McDonald) were John Holt's Stealing ("Ulterior Motive"), Larry Marshall's Mean Girl - more widely recognized as the Mighty Diamonds' I Need a Roof - ("Sweep Over My Soul") and the Heptones' Sweet Talking ("One Way Ticket"). From his 2001 Great Controversy CD, Luciano performed  the spiritual "Call on Yahweh" and the bouncing "Bandits." Luciano also worked out a few cuts from the aforementioned Where There Is Life release with "Who Could It Be," "Your World and Mine" and "Lord Give Me Strength," which closed out the set as the singer danced to a Latin-ized version of the tune.

Stone Love, one of Jamaica's top ranking soundsystems, gave patrons a chance to cool out after Luciano's hot set with some juggling niceness by Rory featuring varied selections from Bob Marley, Junior Reid, Bounty Killer and Toots & the Maytals, among others.

Toots Hibbert,  the originator of the term "reggay" later modified to "reggae," lived up to his top billing on this tour. Taking the stage at 12:15 a.m., Toots delivered an energetic set stretching until 1:30 a.m. With a catalog of songs dating from the 1960's through present, Toots sticks primarily to his 60's and 70's material for live shows. (Given the number of original hits Toots has scored over the years, it is somewhat perplexing that other than "Bam Bam," his riddims haven't been versioned more by the succeeding generatoins of Jamaican singers and DJ's.) Among the standouts of Toots' set were "Pressure Drop," "Time Tough," "Get Up, Stand Up" (not the same song made famous by Peter Tosh and the Wailers), "Sweet and Dandy," "Louie Louie" and "54-46 Was My Number." Luciano joined Toots for "Country Roads," and stayed onstage as a percussionist after the song. Tanto Metro also appeared to pay homage to the ska icon, who sported a red, yellow and green suit. Fortified by both the crowd's enthusiasm and the energy of his accomplished backing ensemble (Paul Douglas on drums; Clifton Jackson on bass; Carl Harvey on lead guitar; Radcliff Bryan on rhythm guitar; Norris Webb on keyboards; and the beautiful Marie "Twiggy" Elliot and Gwen Jackson on backup vocals), Toots' set ran about a half hour over his alloted time.

Speaking between the dancehall business and Luciano, promoter Forbes, who served as the MC of the event, reflected on his 40 years in the music business, and he was joined on stage by Chicago's  premier reggae promoter, the Field Marshall, who is celebrating 20 years in the business himself. Forbes later coaxed one of his old ska sparring partners,  Errol T (now a Chicago resident), into skanking out a little dance.

Providing another brief interlude between Tanto Metro & Devonte and Jah Messenger were the Far East Singers, a female vocal harmony trio reminiscent of the I-Threes (Marley's backup singers comprised of Rita Marley, Judy Mowatt and Marcia Griffiths). Appropriately enough, they performed a pleasant version of Griffiths' "Stepping Out of Babylon."

Toots' son, Jr. Toots. (aka the Zulu Warrior), sang one track as a warmup for his father.

Forbes can be proud of this tour, a crowning jewel in any promoter's career.

Issa Kelly contributed to this report.

Contact reggae addict Steve Serpiente at serpiente97@yahoo.com