Arguably, Bob Marley already is living forever, at least musically. His catalogue has been treated well through various reissues and compilations from Island Records since his death in 1981; the compilation Legend remains the highest-selling reggae album in history, with sales in excess of 14 million copies in the U.S. alone.
With the 30th anniversary of Marley's passing imminent, Tuff Gong/UMe preps another treat from the vault: his last recorded concert, in support of the Uprising album. Live Forever is a double-disc set recorded at the Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on September 23, 1980. The release will cover the whole set list over two compact discs; there will also be a super deluxe edition packing those CDs along with three LPs of the concert.
The full track list is after the jump; Live Forever can be ordered here and here and will be in stores on February 1.
Bob Marley and The Wailers, Live Forever: The Stanley Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA - September 23, 1980 (Tuff Gong/UMe, 2011)
Disc 1
- Greetings
- Natural Mystic
- Positive Vibration
- Burnin' and Lootin'
- Them Belly Full
- The Heathen
- Running Away
- Crazy Baldhead
- War/No More Trouble
- Zimbabwe
- Zion Train
- No Woman, No Cry
Disc 2
- Jamming
- Exodus
- Redemption Song
- Coming in from the Cold
- Could You Be Loved
- Is This Love
- Work
- Get Up, Stand Up
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Is this actually Marley's final show? Great setlist, so if it's as good as the Roxy release from a few years ago I'll get this one. I'm curious to know how good a performance Bob actually gave, given his health at the time.
All the press releases specifically mention it's his last *recorded* show, but everything I've looked into says its his absolute last one. It is indeed a solid setlist, so it might be worth it for that (and the historical value) alone.
Thanks, Mike! I was pretty sure this was his last performance. Yeah, I'll be picking this one up.
It's happening at far too slow a pace, but it's good see some of these historic performances being released, in full, like this. Now if other artists would just do more of this.
Matt Rowe's written about this over at his site... The market for a lot of this music is growing older and the window for this stuff, while substantial now, won't last forever.