Ky-Mani Marley at The Belly Up

Photos: AK via iPhone.

It’s summer time and that means warm weather and Reggae music in the air. I had the privilege of seeing Ky-Mani Marley last night at the Belly Up in San Diego. A direct descendent of the late great Bob Marley, Ky-Mani keeps his music roots and is continuing the musical tradition his father started so many years ago.

The evening started with J.A.M. Kwest, a local SD band that was a nice surprise. The highlight of their set was when they brought out a young Ukelele player who did a remake of a Bob Marley song with Jayme Alejandro Mejia singing along. An awesome interpretation.

Gramps Morgan followed up getting the place going as everyone was waiting for Ky-Mani. Gramps had great energy, an awesome voice and an interesting mix of songs that made me a fan of his live performance. His set was perfect to get the crowd ready for Ky-Mani’s entrance. The energy kept building as it got later and later.

Ky-Mani finally came on and the you could really feel his presence coming off the stage. You could tell something special was going down and when he starting singing you instantly heard Bob’s voice mixed in Ky-Mani’s style. I grew up kicking it on the beach listening to tons of Bob Marley. So when Ky-Mani started singing OG Bob Marley songs it sounded insane. When I closed my eyes I could imagine it was Bob singing right in front of me. The closest thing to the real deal. The crowd sang along to the Bob Marley classics and you could feel the band connect with the crowd. Needless to say there was a lot of dancing and cheering. If you get a chance to see Ky-Mani I highly recommend it. Especially if it’s in a smaller venue like the Belly Up. Below is an iPhone vid of No Woman No Cry from last night.

– AK