Greetings All.

I thought many of you would appreciate a report on Sly & Robbie's set from Red Rocks 
last Saturday. I drove eight hours from Lincoln to Denver to check them out, as 
appearances are increasingly rare. I didn.t have my hopes too high because of the 
mediocre performance given in 1999 when they backed Michael Rose at the 
Sierra Nevada World Music Festival.

I was shocked and delighted that the lads gave the crowd a "Taxi ride" through 
Jamaican music history. And as an added bonus, hornsmen Nambo Robinson, 
Chico Chin, and Dean Fraser joined Sly, Robbie, Darryl Thompson (I think, but 
can.t confirm he was the guitarist), Bubbler Waul (keys), and an unknown 
percussionist (sorry about the name). This may never happen again, and it was 
only because of a last minute shuffle that the horns were paired with Sly & Robbie. 

It was effectively an instrumental and dub session and the horns were heavy in the 
house mix.

The setlist, to the best of my notation was:
Red Hot
Swing Easy
Hi Fashion
Real Rock
Stalag 17
Triplet
Mean Girl (I Need a Roof)
Full Up (Kutchie)
Love's Got a Hold On Me
Ballistic Affair
Rasta Reggae
Freedom Blues (MPLA)
Drifter
Johnny Dollar
My Guiding Star
Queen of Minstrell
Feel Like Jumping
No No No
Far East
Revolution
(unknown)
Satta
What Is Life -- Michael Rose came out for this.
M16/Unmetered Taxi.

Dean, Nambo and Chico actually sang many vocal snippets from the various Studio 
One, Channel 1, and other source versions of these classics, which was just pure 
overload for a version whore like myself. Dean even transformed into Jah Devon 
a few times, and I thought I heard him throwing down a little Ranking Dread over 
"Real Rock." 

Robbie used 3 Ampeg 8*10 cabinets on stage, one on Sly.s right and two on Sly.s left. 
I couldn.t see what kind of kit Sly was playing, but it was acoustic, probably 
Japanese -- two mounted toms, timbali, floor tom, snare, kick, standard stuff.

Sly.s playing was so trademark, very stiff from a reggae perspective -- not much 
swing on the high-hat -- more of the "on the beat," rockish sound that he has been 
known for -- but still wicked and solid.

As an aside, I had the pleasure of providing all the music for the set changes during the 
day, and while the band was setting up, one of the tunes I played was Barry Brown.s 
"Big Big Pollution." Dean stepped up to his mic and threw a little "It's rocking 
time . . ." onto the house mix, dancehall style. I was in heaven.

I don.t know that the crowd, which was approximately 4,000 this year (down from 
previous years) appreciated what they were hearing, as the attendance dwindled by the 
end of the set. This show would seem to me to do really well in Europe, but I treasure 
the fact that I saw it. It really meant as much to me to hear those particular cats 
playing those tunes as any reggae set I've ever witnessed. I hope it can happen 
again someday.

I am still sick to my stomach that I didn.t record. If anyone did, please contact 
me, and I'll be in your debt.

Thanks to Bass Concerts and especially Postman Roger (KGNU, Boulder).

Best,

Carter Van Pelt
cvanpelt@inetnebr.com
(President Carter)
Lincoln, NE 
August 27, 2002