Distant Relatives Tour
TSB Arena, Wellington – 16 February 2011
"New Zealand weed is better than Australian weed;" an appropriate way to introduce a Nas & Damian Marley concert. It started later than expected, it was almost 10pm by the time they hit the stage but once they did they got straight into it.
First up was the lead single As We Enter which had Nas waving his hands and getting the audience bouncing around. This was swiftly followed by Tribes at War where Damian Marley came into his own; whereas Nas had encouraged the crowd’s participation, Marley commanded their attention through his powerful lyrics. “Every man deserves to earn, and every child deserves to learn,” indeed.
Nas, decked out in an All Blacks jersey, had his turn with a couple of songs before he once again teamed up with Marley, churning out Count Your Blessings, Land of Promise, and Dispear, with Strong Will Continue and Leaders being particularly powerful in their message. “Let’s all change the world!”
A brilliantly reworked “Jr Gong” version of Exodus was followed by the crowd pleasing Welcome to Jamrock complete with Ini Kamoze’s; “out in the streets, they call it murder!” Marley had lighters (and cellphones) in the air for Road to Zion and kept the crowd awake for Africa Must Wake Up; “the sleeping sons of Jacob.”
For the encore, Phil Collins’ In the Air Tonight provided the introduction to Nas’ One Mic, complete with Marley on the bongos. And soon it was Nas’ turn on bongos while Marley had the crowd in a frenzy performing his father Bob’s hit Could You Be Loved. Fittingly Nas and Marley walked off stage, brothers in arms, while the band played on.
Both hip-hop and reggae fans made up the three-quarter full TSB Arena, some a mixture of both, any that weren’t had certainly been swayed one way or the other by the end of the night. All the while one of Marley’s crew kept the reggae flag flying, never tiring, caught up in the infectious enthusiasm of it all.
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