Santa Barbara has long had a love affair with reggae music in all of its manifestations. From traditional Caribbean melodies and the English ska revival to today’s amalgamation of surf punk, hip hop and reggae dub music, local, national and international stars of the genre have filled the city’s venues with mesmerized fans for decades.
The tradition of reggae at the Santa Barbara Bowl goes back to before I arrived in the city in 1977. In 1979, Bob Marley played a legendary show that most of us in attendance will never forget. YouTube is full of video clips from that day. The tradition continued Friday night, when the 311 tour brought three distinct interpretations of the reggae genre to a large, appreciative and diverse crowd.
Opening act The Expendables was the most energetic of the group. The band, the first signed by Slightly Stoopid to its new record label, Stoopid Records, plays a high-energy, surf-punk blend of reggae. Fronted by madman vocalist and guitar player Geoff Weers, he led the tight rocking band into several frenzied, 1980s-tinged guitar war jams during its short set. Formed in Santa Cruz in 1997, it may well be the next big breakout band of the genre.
In a much different, far more traditional reggae tone came Ziggy Marley. One of the legendary Marley family sons of Bob Marley, he carries his father’s torch with great respect and clarity. Mixing his own songs with his father’s hits, such as “I Shot the Sheriff,” the Jamaican tradition of reggae is fully revealed.
It’s hard not to like Ziggy Marley, with his upbeat banter and beaming smile. His songs of struggle for freedom and redemption, steeped in the African mysticism of legendary Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie and the Rastafarian religion, strike a universal chord for humanitarian justice. Ziggy Marley has a special affinity for children and always tries to do a special show for them wherever he visits. Santa Barbara was no exception, with a surprise show just for the area’s Boys & Girls Clubs.
Headliner 311 is no strangers to the Santa Barbara Bowl. When the band appeared on stage with an explosive 21st century, giant LED light show, the venue quickly filled to near capacity with ecstatic fans. Launching straight into some of its biggest hits, the band played nonstop during its 90-minute set.
311 (pronounced three-11), a band from a musical nowhere (Omaha, Neb.), has been making music for more than two decades. It began by tenaciously touring with little money, support or record sales. With relentless self-promotion, it finally made a mainstream breakthrough in 1995 with its self-titled album, 311. The band hasn’t looked back, with almost all of its subsequent albums charting in top spots on the Billboard 200, and no less than six hit songs charting in the Billboard Top 5.
The bands’ raw energy was batted about the stage by their talented and diverse performers, mixing hip hop, surf punk and reggae into a pleasing new flavor of the ever-changing stew of reggae music. A beaming and bubbly crowd happily stumbled out of the Bowl, as the 10 p.m. curfew approached.
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