Kaya Tour

Kaya Tour 1978

Tour by Bob Marley & The Wailers
Start date	18 May 1978
End date	5 August 1978
Legs	3
Number of shows	40 in North America 12 in Europe 52 in total
Bob Marley & The Wailers concert chronology

The Kaya Tour was a concert tour organised to support the album Kaya by Bob Marley & The Wailers.

The tour was initially set to begin in early May in Miami, Florida, but the first six shows had to be postponed due to lead guitarist Junior Marvin's cocaine problems. Therefore, the tour began in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on 18 May 1978, and ended in Miami, Florida, on 5 August 1978. The tour was divided into three legs, two U.S. legs and one European leg between. Before the tour Marley performed at the One Love Peace Concert on 22 April 1978.

Numerous concerts including the performances in Paris' Pavillon Baltard were recorded in order to release a second live album, Babylon by Bus which is a compilation of songs performed in Paris as well as from earlier shows from the tours in 1975 and 1976.

On 21 July, Peter Tosh, who was on tour with the Rolling Stones and performing in Anaheim, stopped by the Starlight Bowl in Burbank (where Bob was playing) and performed "Get Up, Stand Up" with Marley. Mick Jagger is said to have watched the entire show from off stage.

On 23 July, the birthday of Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie, reincarnated God of the Rastafari movement, Marley performed in Santa Barbara and did a very rare live performance of his song Sun Is Shining.

While on the tour Marley performed for the first time in Spain and Norway, and also premiered at the Madison Square Garden.

Steel Pulse were the opening act on several of Marley's European dates on the tour.

Setlist

After the first quarter of the tour the setlists became more standardised and mostly looked like the following:

• "Positive Vibration"
• "them Belly Full (but We Hungry)"
• "Concrete Jungle"
• "Rebel Music (3 O'Clock Roadblock)"
• "the Heathen"
• "War" / "No More Trouble" (medley)
• "Running Away" / "Crazy Baldhead" (medley)
• "Crisis"
• "I Shot The Sheriff"
• "No Woman, No Cry"
• "is this Love"
• "Jamming"
• "Lively Up Yourself"
• "Easy Skanking"
• "Get Up, Stand Up"
• "Exodus"

At the beginning of the tour a Nyabinghi chant called "So Long Rastafari" (sometimes as a medley with "Time Will Tell") had been performed at the start of the show, followed by "Concrete Jungle", "Burnin' and Lootin'" and "them Belly Full (but We Hungry)". Since the Nyabinghi chant was very meditative and slow until it segued into the lively reggae beat of "Concrete Jungle", it was decided to replace the chant by the classic and instantly lively "Positive Vibration" to better catch the audience from the beginning. The same procedure was done at the beginning of the Rastaman Vibration Tour in 1976 when a medley of Nyabinghi chants, like "Lion of Judah" and "Rastaman Chant," opened the sets, but was later replaced.

It is reported that all songs from the Kaya album had been performed at least once. There are reports of various people (concert attenders, band members) that Marley did unusual long concerts in Ann Arbor MI, Lenox MA, and Oslo (Norway), each with a setlist full of rarely performed songs. There were also performances of an earlier song, "Punky Reggae Party", which is not featured on any of Marley's Island albums released at that time, but was released as a single in 1977. When performed it was part of a medley along with "Get Up, Stand Up".

From show to show sometimes an additional song was edged in somewhere in the setlist, like "Slave Driver", "Burnin' and Lootin'", "Punky Reggae Party", "Kaya", "Sun Is Shining", "Time Will Tell", "One Love", "Natural Mystic", "Waiting in Vain", "So Much Things To Say", "Talkin' Blues", "Who the Cap Fit", "Rat Race" and "Roots, Rock, Reggae". Live performances of each of these songs happened very rarely during the tour.

Tour dates

Date	City	Country	Venue
5 May 1978	Miami	United States	Jai Alai Fronton Cancelled
6 May 1978	Atlanta		Fox Theatre Cancelled
7 May 1978	New Orleans		The Warehouse Cancelled
11 May 1978	Houston		Music Hall Cancelled
12 May 1978	Fort Worth		Will Rogers Auditorium Cancelled
14 May 1978	Austin		Paramount Theater, University of Texas Cancelled
18 May 1978	Ann Arbor		Hill Auditorium
19 May 1978	Cleveland		Public Auditorium
24 May 1978	Columbus		Veterans Memorial Auditorium The Imperials opened
25 May 1978	Madison		Orpheum Theater 2 shows
27 May 1978	Chicago		Uptown Theatre
29 May 1978	Milwaukee		Performing Arts Center 2 shows
30 May 1978	Minneapolis		Northrop Auditorium
2 June 1978	Pittsburgh		Stanley Theater
3 June 1978	Syracuse		Landmark Theatre
4 June 1978	Detroit		Detroit Masonic Temple
5 June 1978	Philadelphia		The Spectrum Theater
8 June 1978	Boston		Music Hall 2 shows
9 June 1978	Toronto	Canada	Maple Leaf Gardens Tower of Power opened
10 June 1978	Montreal		Montreal Forum
11 June 1978	Buffalo	United States	Shea's Buffalo Cancelled
12 June 1978	Poughkeepsie		Civic Center
14 June 1978	Shelton		Pinecrest Country Club
16 June 1978	Landover		Capital Centre
17 June 1978	New York City		Madison Square Garden
18 June 1978	Lenox		Music Inn
22 June 1978	Stafford	England	New Bingley Hall
25 June 1978	Paris	France	Pavillon de Paris
26 June 1978
27 June 1978
28 June 1978	Ibiza	Spain	Plaza de Toros
29 June 1978	Gothenburg	Sweden	Scandinavium Cancelled
30 June 1978	Stockholm		Gröna Lund
1 July 1978	Roskilde	Denmark	Roskilde Festival
2 July 1978	Horten	Norway	Horten Festival
4 July 1978	Gdańsk	Poland	Hala Olivia
7 July 1978	Rotterdam	Netherlands	Ahoy Rotterdam
8 July 1978	Geleen		IJshall
9 July 1978	Brussels	Belgium	Forest National
13 July 1978	London	England	Top of the Pops BBC TV broadcast
14 July 1978	Vancouver	Canada	Queen Elizabeth Theatre 2 shows
15 July 1978	Seattle	United States	Paramount Theatre 2 shows
16 July 1978	Portland		Paramount Theatre
18 July 1978	Santa Cruz		Civic Center 2 shows
20 July 1978	Berkeley		Greek Theater, University of California
21 July 1978	Burbank		Starlight Bowl Peter Tosh Special Appearance
22 July 1978	San Diego		Peterson Gym
23 July 1978	Santa Barbara		Santa Barbara Bowl
24 July 1978	Burbank		Starlight Bowl
25 July 1978	Los Angeles		The Roxy Theater
27 July 1978	Austin		Municipal Auditorium
28 July 1978	Fort Worth		Tarrant County Convention Center
29 July 1978	Houston		Music Hall
30 July 1978	New Orleans		The Warehouse
1 August 1978	Atlanta		Fox Theatre
5 August 1978	Miami		Jai Alai Fronton