Waaaaaaaay Broader Than Broadway

The self proclaimed "original Dancehall master", Barrington Levy, is just that...and then a whole lot more. Last night, Levy played an almost two hour set in Santa Cruz. Being my first chance to see the Original Dancehall Master at work, I came to the show with high expectations and bubbling anticipation. I mean...who doesn't want to hear Levy belt out "Vice Versa Love"?

The crowd was very young overall, which led to an semi-exodus of curfew bound teenagers leaving around midnight. However, Levy assured the die-hards and faithful fans saying, "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." He began the set with a medley of some of his greatest hits, including a nice remix of "Under Me Sensi". If you came to the show looking for the venerable singer to go through his massive catalog and pick a greatest hits mix, you knew what to expect. Levy did a wonderful version of "Prison Oval Rock", splicing in a shout out to the locals calling it "Santa Cruz Oval Rock" in the first refrain. "Murderer", "Black Roses", "Too Experienced" (one of my favorites from the set), "She's Mine", "Living Dangerously" are just some of the hits performed in front of a good crowd at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz.

The whole show exceeded my expectations, which were very high to start with. This show will be in the forefront of my mind for the next week or two at least. As I said earlier, "Too Experienced" was definitely one of my favorite parts of the performance. In the main set, Levy treated the audience to a double shot of "Work". First, he sang almost the entire song acapella before going through it one more time with the band's support. We didn't get to hear "Broader Than Broadway" until the encore (which lasted almost an hour), but it was the perfect placing in the mix. The grande finale, as was expected, came with a five minute rendition of the ultimate show stopper in his catalog: "Vice Versa Love". One of the greatest parts of this song and his performance is that the power and beauty of his voice is not lost one bit when going from the record to the live performance. "Vice Versa Love" is such a brilliant and timely composition that it (well, really the whole show) left me in a state of awe and completely beaming after the end of the performance (the beaming hasn't stopped...that is how great of a show the Original Dancehall Master puts on).

Another of the great aspects of Levy's performance last night was the way in which he gets the crowd involved in the show. From having the crowd mimic his skatting and singing to making us chant "more and more and more and more" to get him to continue playing during the 50 minute encore, Levy ensured that those of us who truly love his music made a strong connection during the performance. The highlight of this crowd participation/interaction was his insistence on the crowd singing "Get Up, Stand Up" with him, which the crowd gladly did from start to finish. Honestly, this part especially gave me the goose bumps because Levy and the crowd were together on the singalong, showing the timelessness and power of Marley's music in both Levy's and the crowd's adoration and respect for the King of Reggae.

There are a lot of performers that I want to see, but a much shorter list of those I have to see every time they come near wherever I live. Barrington Levy has joined that list after two hours that will be firmly ingrained in my memory for Iternity.