Monday, January 09, 2012

Bob Marley at Deeside Leisure Centre


Bob Marley’s open-air concert at Ninian Park, Cardiff, in 1976 on his Rastaman Vibration tour has gone down as one of the great damp squibs in the history of Welsh pop culture. A Biblical downpour ensured a poor turnout and a bleak atmosphere. Reggae in the rain just doesn’t work. Nor does reggae in a monsoon. A far happier affair was Marley’s often overlooked 1980 show at Deeside Leisure Centre, north Wales. There he performed in front of 4,500 joyful punters on his Uprising tour - one of his last ever tour dates, in fact. Above is a ticket for the Deeside gig and here is a bootleg track from the show.