Bob Marley & the Wailers - BBC Sessions, Volume 4: In Concert, Stanley Theater, Pittsburgh, PA, 9-23-1980
In 1977, Marley was diagnosed with malignant cancer under the nail of the big toe of his right foot. Contrary to popular belief, this had nothing to do with a soccer injury he got earlier that year, since signs were the cancer had been there for some time already. He was only about 31 years at the time. He was advised to amputate his toe, but he decided against it, saying it went against his religious beliefs.
He went full speed ahead with his career, and for several years, the cancer didn't bother him that much. But slowly but surely, his health declined. On September 16, 1980, he started a new tour to promote his latest album, "Uprising." On September 21, just two days prior to this concert in Pittsburgh, he collapsed while jogging in Central Park in New York City. He was taken to the hospital, where it was discover the cancer had spread to his brains, lungs, and liver. It was very touch and go until the last minute whether this concert would take place at all. But a sold out crowd of 3,500 people were already there and excited, and he decided he didn't want to let down his fans.
Given that context, it's remarkable how energetic and good Marley sounds in this concert. Dennis Thompson, who engineered all of Marley's concerts in the 1970s, later said, "Bob did not know how to give less than 100 percent at a concert, so even if his foot was dropping off, you would never know. His work, his music, took precedence over everything."
The tour was supposed to just be getting started. Many more dates were scheduled. But after this concert, all further dates were canceled. So Marley didn't announce during this concert that it would be the last one, since that was still up in the air at the time, but one must guess that he already had a good idea it was the last one, or at least close to the last. His health rapidly declined after that. He died on May 11, 1981, at the age of 36.
This album has been officially released as "Live Forever." The BBC didn't broadcast the concert at the time, but they did later. Marley was in the habit of occasionally recording his concerts on reel to reel tape, and this happened to be one of the ones that got recorded. After the cancellation of the tour and then his death eight months later, this recording took on new importance. The BBC broadcast it for the first time in 1991, while the official album came out in 2011.
Unfortunately, there's one major flaw with the recording: the tape ran out before the encore of "Work" and "Get Up, Stand Up." The "Live Forever" album tried to make up for this by resorting to an audience bootleg for the last two songs. Unfortunately, the sound quality is much worse. I decided to remove "Work" from my version of this concert, because the sound quality is that bad. However, I've kept "Get Up, Stand Up," since it was the very last song he performed in public, and it's such a great song. I did some audio editing to try to make that song together, but one can only do so much, even with the latest technology, so it still sounds pretty rough.
This album is an hour and 27 minutes long.
01 talk
02 Natural Mystic
03 talk
04 Positive Vibration
05 Burnin' and Lootin'
06 Them Belly Full [But We Hungry]
07 The Heathen
08 Running Away
09 Crazy Baldhead
10 talk
11 War - No More Trouble
12 Zimbabwe
13 Zion Train
14 No Woman, No Cry
15 Jamming
16 Exodus
17 Redemption Song
18 Coming In from the Cold
19 Could You Be Loved
20 Is This Love
21 Get Up, Stand Up
