Today marks the final onstage appearance by reggae legend Bob Marley. On this day, in 1980, while performing at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Bob Marley collapsed onstage. Marley had collapsed in New York's Central Park while jogging two days before and was told to immediately cancel the US leg of his tour. He was told he had a “terminal cancerous brain tumor,” and had no more than three weeks to live. Marley flew to Pittsburgh to perform one final show. By all accounts, it was an incredible performance; the song “Work” was the final encore and the last song Bob Marley would ever play before an audience.
Bob Marley would, of course, outlast all of the doctors’ projections before finally succumbing on May 11, 1981. Reggae music would never recover, failing to reach the heights of its musical and spiritual leader.
The final performance of Bob Marley and The Wailers was issued posthumously as, Live Forever: The Stanley Theatre, Pittsburgh PA September 23, 1980.
The setlist that night was:
Natural Mystic
Positive Vibration
Burnin' and Lootin'
Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)
The Heathen
Running Away
Crazy Baldhead
War
No More Trouble
Zimbabwe
Zion Train
No Woman, No Cry
Jammin'
Exodus
Encore 1:
Redemption Song
Coming In From The Cold
Could You Be Loved
Encore 2:
Is This Love?
Work
Any biography of Marley and his work should start with Timothy White's groundbreaking work Catch a Fire, originally published in 1983. A good ending point would be Chris Salewicz' recent book Bob Marley: The Untold Story. There are many stops in between worth investigating, including books by his wife Rita, and longtime manager and confidant Don Taylor.
I was pleasantly surprised by last year's documentary by Kevin MacDonald, simply titled Marley, and would unequivocably recommend that as well.
Jah live...
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