The Charge

The progeny of a musical icon gets his chance to shine in this performance.

The Case

Ziggy Marley is perhaps the predominant Marley family member not named Bob that is actively recording reggae songs. He started out early on with his brothers and sisters, and as a group they became known as the Melody Makers, even performing at their Dad's funeral when Ziggy hadn't even reached his tenth birthday. But Ziggy has recorded some songs that have broken away from his father's past, including songs like "Rastaman Vibration" and "Tomorrow People." In the '80s and '90s, and into the 21st century, his music has become more politically and socially active, hitting on themes like domestic violence and racial injustice.

One has to wonder how hard it is for him to attempt to escape the legacy of his father. I'm sure that he's probably asked about it constantly, and the fact that he displays an eerie resemblance to dad has got to be an obstacle for him to overcome as an individual musician. In fact, over the course of this performance, done in support of his "Love Is My Religion" album, this crowd, like many others before it, was probably asking when he was going to do some of Bob's songs. The recognizable "Is This Love" is done about halfway into the near two-hour set, and with its slightly uptempo interpretation, it's almost as if Ziggy is getting the requirement out of the way, so he can focus on his material, for which he seems to have more patience and passion for. Ironically there's a song later in the set called "True to Myself" which can also serve as a bit of a message to those who wonder why he doesn't play two hours covering his Dad's songs. And if you're not familiar with Ziggy's material (like me), you will certainly be surprised at how socially conscious it's portrayed to be. The setlist is as follows:

• "Make Some Music"
• "Justice"
• "Rastaman Vibration"
• "Be Free
• "Tumblin' Down"
• "Concrete Jungle"
• "Still The Storms"
• "Lee and Molly"
• "A Lifetime"
• "Is This Love"
• "Tomorrow People"
• "Looking"
• "True to Myself"
• "Jammin'"
• "Look Who's Dancing"
• "Dragonfly"
• "Into the Groove"
• "No More Trouble"
• "Love Is My Religion"

Performance wise it's quite capable. Ziggy's band is one of veteran musicians who appear to be experienced session performers. There wasn't anyone that seems to have brought a distinguished history with them, but they seem to be a pretty synchronized unit in terms of how loose they should be and how much they jam. And to Ziggy's credit, he's singing, playing chords on a guitar and dancing, sometimes all together, and working up quite the sweat in all of this, resulting in an enjoyable and relaxing concert experience.

The widescreen presentation is your standard concert footage but it's presented fairly well, and the two and six channel Dolby presentations are equally capable, with a bit of low end on the Dolby 5.1 surround track without too much immersion. As far as supplements go, there are two music videos from the new album that are included here, followed by interviews with Ziggy about his thoughts on the album and what inspired it, and the band members and crew share their thoughts on it too.

Overall, if you're a fan of the Marley music family, or a fan of reggae in general, you really should give Ziggy a trial run at the very least. You'll find yourself pleasantly surprised that the son has really done the father justice both in music and lyrics.

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