POP MUSIC REVIEW : Reggae Groups Offer a Fitting Tribute to Tosh at the Starlight

Give Culture credit for paying homage to the late Peter Tosh the right way during the nine-hour “Tribute to Peter Tosh” concert Saturday at the Starlight Amphitheatre in Burbank.

The veteran reggae vocal trio didn’t trot out a couple of Tosh’s well-known standards to win thunderous but easy ovations. Instead, Culture dedicated two appropriate songs from its own repertoire to salute the slain reggae star: “This Train,” an ode to the mode of transportation taking the righteous to Zion, and “I’m Worried,” an attack on the kind of random ghetto gunplay that claimed Tosh’s life last September.

But the bulk of the tributes were verbal rather than musical. A large portion of the estimated 3,500 fans sprawled comfortably on the permanent seats or the grassy incline at the rear of the amphitheater also periodically joined the hardy contingent dancing on a walkway in front of the stage.

Culture’s 45-minute headlining set was somewhat anticlimactic, although not due to the band’s performance. The trio, led by Joseph Hill, exploded on the reggae scene a decade ago with a string of powerful albums that rank with the best ones recorded during that golden age for Jamaican music.

Like Burning Spear, Hill boasts one of those distinctive Jamaican voices that recalls the village elder passing on centuries of tradition. Rich and dark, liquid yet grainy, his voice sounded the way Guinness Stout looks.

Hill was an active performer, frequently pinwheeling around the stage like a dreadlocked scarecrow. But he unfortunately retained (from previous local appearances) the irksome habit of stopping a song after 30 seconds, exhorting the crowd along the lines of “Do you want to hear reggae music?,” and then re-starting the same tune.

Still, Culture delivered a strong set that drew liberally on all phases of its career--from the early anthem “Two Sevens Clash” through the middle period “International Herb” to the recent “Money Girl.” But the group suffered from having to play to the dwindling remnants of a crowd that was largely drawn by curiosity over the first local appearance of Andrew Tosh, Peter’s son.

Like Ziggy Marley, Andrew proved to be a proverbial chip off the old block--his phrasing and vocal timbre were so close to his father that it was easy to imagine Peter Tosh on stage singing again. Andrew was a comfortable and natural performer, gliding about the stage with an animated grace that made him appear a more approachable figure than his father.

Of course, inheriting a crack band like Word, Sound and Power and a repertoire of certified crowd-pleasers didn’t hurt Andrew’s prospects of going over well. Andrew’s own “Original Man” indicated he has the skills to go beyond just evoking his father’s legacy, but there weren’t enough of his songs in the set to gauge that potential.

Also appearing on the bill were the Wailing Souls from Jamaica, Nami & the Crew from New York, and local performers Matuzalem, Swelele and Boom Shaka.