Jack Johnson and Ziggy Marley

Jack Johnson and Ziggy Marley

at iThink Financial Amphitheatre | Thurs. Aug. 18,2022

Concert Review by Brad Stevens | Photos Jay Skolnick

The Sun was not shining, the weather was not sweet.

Thunderstorms surrounded the iThink Financial Amphitheatre, Thursday evening in West Palm Beach, August 18, and fans were told to go back to their vehicles to wait out the weather delay.  After 2 hours, the skies opened enough that the sold-out crowd began filing back in.  A loud roar erupted as the eldest son of Bob & Rita Marley, Ziggy, finally took the stage with the timeless “Tomorrow People” from his 1988 Grammy-winning album, Conscious Party.

David Nesta “Ziggy” Marley and his backup singers got the crowd moving with “Love is my Religion” and once they dug into the Wailer’s cover “Get Up stand up”, everyone got up swaying to the reggae groove.  Love & family always take center stage with the Marley Family and when Ziggy introduced his new single “The Lucky One”, he shared with the crowd that he wrote the heartfelt love ballad as a tribute to his beautiful wife, Orly.  The thirty-five-minute set was short due to the delay and Ziggy ended his show by bringing out two of his children on stage to adorably dance to a lively performance of the Melody Maker’s “Look Who’s Dancing”.  The Marley family is truly blessed to pass on the love & appreciation for music from generation to generation the way they have with so much talent and inspiration, keeping brother Bob’s legacy at the forefront of reggae music.

Jack Johnson came out with an acoustic guitar and performed a catalog of classics from the last 20 years as well as a few new ones sprinkled in. The crowd was singing along to every song and loving his laid-back vibe. With it being nearly 11 pm, Ziggy came back out and called an audible to Jack Johnson, announcing that “the Marley kids have to get to bed, so the encore we usually do with everyone coming back out at the end was happening right now.” JJ & Marley then performed a duo of “High Tide Or Low Tide” from the Wailers’ Catch A Fire Sessions. Throughout the show, it was impossible to keep your eyes off keyboardist, Zach Gill, most of the time thrashing at his keys and others clapping & swaying to the music to engage the crowd to getting up to dance. Gill stood out and stole the show with solos on both the accordion, affectionately known as a squeezebox and melodica, an uncommon musical instrument in which the user blows air through a reeded keyboard. The latter of which he performed wildly standing on to his keyboard during a medley of “Bubble Toes.” Jack Johnson melted hearts all over the entire venue with “Banana Pancakes” and then came back out for the encore with a heartfelt solo acoustic performance of “Do You Remember” about meeting his wife of 29 years, and closed the night out with the panty dropper “Better Together” while the entire audience sang along. As the sea of fans made for the exits, storms and delays forgotten, the smiles on their faces glowed in the moonlight. What a beautiful night it turned out to be.