Buju Banton underlined his status as perhaps the most iconic reggae artiste of his generation when he pulled out tens of thousands of fans for back-to-back sold out shows over two legs of his Long Walk To Freedom Tour in New York.
The first show was on Saturday, July 13, at the UBS Arena in Queens. Gargamel’s first performance in New York City in 15 years created such a significant demand that a second show had to be added after the first one was sold out in hours.
There was palpable excitement around the show as fans were shuttled to the venue in buses as early as 6:00 pm ahead of the concert’s scheduled 8:30 pm start.
And when it did start, was it spectacular!
The first notes of Buried Alive struck up while the stage was bathed in blue lights, then a few seconds later, Banton appeared, transported on the stage from below, like a man emerging from the pit of hell to be reborn. Dressed in a resplendent orange outfit, he struck a Black Power pose with his left hand holding the microphone aloft. The audience screamed its approval.
He then performed Buried Alive and segued into Over Hills and Valleys. Inspired by the addition of Lenky Marsden to his Til Shiloh band, Gargamel took the eager audience on a romp through his timeless reggae catalogue peppered with hits like Untold Stories, Wanna Be Loved and Love Sponge. When he belted out the opening words of Destiny by singing “The rich man’s wealth is in the city….”, the crowd sang the next line ‘destruction of the poor is his poverty’, a particularly poignant moment knowing that New York is one of the richest cities in the world, a glimmering city built by the tireless labour of its underclass.
At one point during his performance, the lanky Banton told the audience of over 19,000, “They said to me, you will never come back to the United States of America, and I said to them let’s see what God will do.”
He declared “let’s have some fun tonight” as he showed off his impressive dancehall catalogue reeling off hits on the Showtime rhythm: Waistline, Bongo Cart, Champion and Over Mi.
Singer Nadine Sutherland joined the party to sing What Am I Gonna Do, her duet with Banton, and then turned up the volume with a wicked rendition of another collab, Wicked Dickie.
Minutes after 11 pm, Gramps Morgan, who also gave a tribute to his deceased brother Peetah Morgan, blessed the venue with their spiritually uplifting Psalm 23. Regrettably, there was no Beres Hammond who had a previous engagement.
An ebullient Sutherland later wrote: “Last night was epic for Jamaica music and culture. Buju Banton’s LWTF concert corked the arena in NYC. I’m really proud to be a part of this historical event. I’m still levitating.”
Fellow deejay Bounty Killer added: “They buried him alive, and he rises from the ashes which sane thinking Jamaican could not be elated about this for our music, it’s culture and a man that was buried alive. Historical moment, when last has (sic) we seen reggae looking so powerful in New York.”
American record producer and reggae lover DJ Khaled wrote, “Congrats to my brother @bujubanton and then again ‘God Did’,” posting a snippet with Buju singing Buried Alive.
Buju’s previous New York City performance was 15 years ago at Madison Square Garden, the last of four sold out Mother’s Day shows between 2006 and 2009.
The second leg of the LWTF tour in New York, which was also sold out, took place at the UBS on Sunday night.
