Kaya Tour

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Kaya Tour 1978
Tour by Bob Marley & The Wailers
Start date May 18, 1978
End date August 5, 1978
Legs 3
Shows 40 in North America
12 in Europe
52 in total
Bob Marley & The Wailers tour chronology
Exodus Tour
(1977)
Kaya Tour
(1978)
Babylon by Bus Tour
(1979)

The Kaya Tour was a concert tour organised to support the album Kaya by Bob Marley & The Wailers.

The tour was initially set to begin in early May in Miami, Florida, but the first six shows had to be postponed due to lead guitarist Junior Marvin's cocaine problems. Therefore the tour began in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on May 18, 1978, and ended in Miami, Florida, on August 5, 1978. The tour was divided into three legs, two U.S. legs and one European leg between. Before the tour Marley performed at the One Love Peace Concert on April 22, 1978.

Numerous concerts including the performances in Paris' Pavillon Baltard were recorded in order to release a second live album, Babylon by Bus which is a compilation of songs performed in Paris as well as from earlier shows from the tours in 1975 and 1976.

On July 23, the birthday of Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie, reincarnated God of the Rastafari movement, when Marley performed in Santa Barbara he did a very rare live performance of his song Sun Is Shining.

While on the tour Marley performed for the first time in Spain and Norway, and also premiered at the Madison Square Garden.

[edit] Setlist

After the first quarter of the tour the setlists became more standardised and mostly looked like the following:

  • "Positive Vibration"
  • "Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)"
  • "Concrete Jungle"
  • "Rebel Music (3 O'Clock Roadblock)"
  • "The Heathen"
  • "War" / "No More Trouble" (medley)
  • "Running Away" / "Crazy Baldhead" (medley)
  • "Crisis"
  • "I Shot The Sheriff"
  • "No Woman, No Cry"
  • "Is This Love?"
  • "Jammin'"
  • "Lively Up Yourself"
  • "Easy Skanking"
  • "Get Up, Stand Up"
  • "Exodus"

At the beginning of the tour a Nyabinghi chant called "So Long Rastafari" (sometimes as a medley with "Time Will Tell") had been performed at the start of the show, followed by "Concrete Jungle", "Burnin' And Lootin'" and "Them Belly Full". Since the Nyabinghi chant was very meditative and slow until it segued into the lively reggae beat of "Concrete Jungle", it was decided to replace the chant by the classic and instantly-lively "Positive Vibration" to better catch the audience from the beginning. The same procedure was done at the beginning of the Rastaman Vibration Tour in 1976 when a medley of Nyabinghi chants, like "Lion of Judah" and "Rastaman Chant," opened the sets, but was later replaced.

It is reported that all songs from the Kaya album had been performed at least once. There are reports of various people (concert attenders, band members) that Marley did unusual long concerts in Ann Arbor MI, Lenox MA, and Oslo (Norway), each with a setlist full of rarely-performed songs. There were also performances of an earlier song, "Punky Reggae Party", which is not featured on any of Marley's Island albums released at that time, but was released as a single in 1977. When performed it was part of a medley along with "Get Up, Stand Up".

From show to show sometimes an additional song was edged in somewhere in the setlist, like "Slave Driver", "Burnin' And Lootin'", "Punky Reggae Party", "Kaya", "Sun Is Shining", "Time Will Tell", "One Love", "Natural Mystic", "Waiting In Vain", "So Much Things To Say", "Talkin' Blues", "Who The Cap Fit", "Rat Race" and "Roots, Rock, Reggae". Live performances of each of these songs happened very rarely during the tour.

[edit] Tour dates

Date Venue City State Notes
May 5 Jai Alai Fronton Miami, Florida Flag of the United States USA cancelled
May 6 Fox Theatre Atlanta, Georgia Flag of the United States USA cancelled
May 7 The Warehouse New Orleans, Louisiana Flag of the United States USA cancelled
May 11 Music Hall Houston, Texas Flag of the United States USA cancelled
May 12 Will Rogers Auditorium Fort Worth, Texas Flag of the United States USA cancelled
May 14 Paramount Theater, University of Texas Austin, Texas Flag of the United States USA cancelled
May 18 Hill Auditorium Ann Arbor, Michigan Flag of the United States USA
May 19 Music Hall Cleveland, Ohio Flag of the United States USA
May 24 Veteran Memorial Hall Columbus, Ohio Flag of the United States USA
May 25 Orpheum Theater Madison, Wisconsin Flag of the United States USA 2 shows
May 27 Uptown Theatre Chicago, Illinois Flag of the United States USA
May 29 Performing Arts Center Milwaukee, Wisconsin Flag of the United States USA 2 shows
May 30 Northrop Auditorium Minneapolis, Minnesota Flag of the United States USA
June 2 Stanley Theater Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Flag of the United States USA
June 3 Landmark Theater Syracuse, New York Flag of the United States USA
June 4 Masonic Temple Detroit, Michigan Flag of the United States USA
June 5 The Spectrum Theater Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Flag of the United States USA
June 8 Music Hall Boston, Massachusetts Flag of the United States USA 2 shows
June 9 Maple Leaf Gardens Toronto, Ontario Flag of Canada Canada Tower of Power opened
June 10 Forum Concert Bowl Montréal, Québec Flag of Canada Canada
June 11 Shea's Buffalo Theatre Buffalo, New York Flag of the United States USA cancelled
June 12 Civic Center Poughkeepsie, New York Flag of the United States USA
June 14 Pinecrest Country Club Shelton, Connecticut Flag of the United States USA
June 16 Capital Center Landover, Maryland Flag of the United States USA
June 17 Madison Square Garden New York City, New York Flag of the United States USA
June 18 Music Inn Lenox, Massachusetts Flag of the United States USA
June 22 New Bingley Hall Stafford, Staffordshire Flag of England England
June 25 Pavillon Baltard Nogent-sur-Marne, Paris Flag of France France
June 26 Pavillon Baltard Nogent-sur-Marne, Paris Flag of France France
June 27 Pavillon Baltard Nogent-sur-Marne, Paris Flag of France France
June 28 Plaza de Toros Ibiza Flag of Spain Spain
June 29 Scandinavium Gothenburg Flag of Sweden Sweden cancelled
June 30 Gröna Lund Stockholm Flag of Sweden Sweden
July 1 Roskilde Festival Roskilde Flag of Denmark Denmark
July 2 Horten Festival Horten Flag of Norway Norway
July 7 Ahoy Hallen Rotterdam Flag of the Netherlands Netherlands
July 8 IJshall Geleen Flag of the Netherlands Netherlands
July 9 Forest National Brussels Flag of Belgium Belgium
July 13 Top of the Pops London Flag of England England BBC TV broadcast
July 14 Queen Elizabeth Theater Vancouver, British Columbia Flag of Canada Canada 2 shows
July 15 Paramount Theatre Seattle, Washington Flag of the United States USA 2 shows
July 16 Paramount Theatre Portland, Oregon Flag of the United States USA
July 18 Civic Center Santa Cruz, California Flag of the United States USA 2 shows
July 21 Greek Theater, University of California Berkeley, California Flag of the United States USA
July 22 Starlite Bowl Burbank, California Flag of the United States USA
July 23 Santa Barbara County Bowl Santa Barbara, California Flag of the United States USA
July 24 State Amphitheater, San Diego State University San Diego, California Flag of the United States USA
July 25 The Roxy Theater Los Angeles, California Flag of the United States USA
July 27 Municipal Auditorium Austin, Texas Flag of the United States USA
July 28 Tarrant County Convention Center Fort Worth, Texas Flag of the United States USA
July 29 Music Hall Houston, Texas Flag of the United States USA
July 30 The Warehouse New Orleans, Louisiana Flag of the United States USA
August 1 Fox Theatre Atlanta, Georgia Flag of the United States USA
August 5 Jai Alai Fronton Miami, Florida Flag of the United States USA