Uprising Tour

The Uprising Tour was a concert tour organised to support the album Uprising by Bob Marley and the Wailers. It was Marley's last tour and the biggest music tour of Europe in that year.

Uprising Tour 1980
Tour by Bob Marley & The Wailers
Start date30 May 1980
End date23 September 1980
Legs2
No. of shows33 in Europe
5 in the United States
38 in total
Bob Marley & The Wailers concert chronology

The tour started at the Hallenstadion in Zürich, Switzerland, where Marley performed for the first time, on 30 May 1980, and ended at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, on 23 September 1980, which was Marley's last concert. Two days prior to the Pittsburgh show, after playing two shows at the Madison Square Garden, Marley collapsed in Central Park while jogging, and was told to immediately cancel the U.S. leg of the tour, but he instead flew to Pittsburgh to perform one final performance. He was rumoured to go out on stage to say "Hi" to fans with Stevie Wonder during his performance of Master Blaster but this is not true. Marley went to a few treatment clinics in the United States, Boston, New York and Miami (maybe Mexico). Each place gave him only a month to live. Marley then left for Germany to receive cancer treatment which eventually was not successful but prolonged his life 6 months more than any medical clinic in the United States predicted, as Marley died in May 1981.

The concert in Dortmund on 13 June has been broadcast in the 1990s by German TV station WDR in their Rockpalast concert series. Numerous other performances from the Uprising Tour have also been taped on video. On 27 June, Marley performed in front of 120,000 people in the sold-out San Siro stadium in Milan. While on tour Marley performed for the first time in Switzerland, Italy, Ireland and Scotland.

Set list

The standard set list of the tour mostly looked like the following:

  1. "Natural Mystic"
  2. "Positive Vibration"
  3. "Revolution"
  4. "I Shot the Sheriff"
  5. "War" / "No More Trouble"
  6. "Zimbabwe"
  7. "Zion Train"
  8. "No Woman, No Cry"
  9. "Jammin'"
  10. "Exodus"
  11. "Redemption Song"
  12. "Natty Dread"
  13. "Work"
  14. "Could You Be Loved"
  15. "Is This Love"
  16. "Get Up, Stand Up"

As an introductory theme, the concerts often started with a version of the stalag riddim by Winston Riley, with keyboardist Tyrone Downie chanting "Marley!" over the riddim while Marley coming to the stage (therefore the intro is commonly called "Marley Chant" among fans). Most shows had a standard set list which closed with "Exodus", and an encore set which usually ended with "Get Up, Stand Up". There were also performances of an earlier song, "Trenchtown Rock", which is not featured on any of Marley's Island albums released at that time.

For the short U.S. leg of the tour Marley changed the set list to be similar to the one from the Kaya Tour in 1978: he dropped "Revolution" and "Natty Dread" and added songs like "Burnin' And Lootin'" or "Them Belly Full" at the beginning, or "The Heathen" and the "Running Away" / "Crazy Baldhead" medley in the middle of the set list.

From show to show sometimes an additional song was edged in the middle of the set list, like "Lively Up Yourself", "Kinky Reggae"-San Siro, Milan, Italy; "Roots, Rock, Reggae-San Siro, Milan, Italy and Le Bourget-Paris, France"; "Coming In From The Cold", "Bad Card"-Meehan Auditorium-Providence, Rhode Island, "Kaya"-San Siro, Milan-Italy; "Trenchtown Rock", "We And Them"-Meehan Auditorium, Providence, Rhode Island; "Three Little Birds"-Plaza de Toros, Barcelona-Spain; "Talkin' Blues" or "Forever Loving Jah"-Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York. Live performances of each of these songs happened very rarely during the tour.

Tour dates

Date City Country Venue Notes
30 May 1980ZürichSwitzerlandHallenstadion
1 June 1980MunichGermanyReitstadionwith Fleetwood Mac
3 June 1980GrenobleFrancePalais des Sports
4 June 1980DijonParc des Sports
6 June 1980CologneGermanySporthalle
7 June 1980LondonEnglandCrystal Palace Concert Bowl
8 June 1980KaiserslauternGermanyFritz-Walter-Stadionwith Fleetwood Mac
9 June 1980StrasbourgFranceHall Rhénus
10 June 1980OrléansParc des Expositions
11 June 1980BordeauxExposition Hall
13 June 1980DortmundGermanyWestfalenhallen
14 June 1980HamburgErnst-Merck-Halle
16 June 1980DrammenNorwayDrammenshallen
17 June 1980StockholmSwedenGröna Lund
18 June 1980CopenhagenDenmarkThe Forum
20 June 1980BerlinGermanyWaldbühne
21 June 1980KasselEissporthalle
22 June 1980BrusselsBelgiumForest National
23 June 1980RotterdamNetherlandsAhoy
24 June 1980LilleFranceZénith de Lille
26 June 1980ToulonStade Mayol
27 June 1980MilanItalyStadio Giuseppe Meazza
28 June 1980TurinStadio Comunale
29 June 1980MadridSpainEstadio Román Valerocancelled
30 June 1980BarcelonaPlaza de Toros
2 July 1980NantesFranceStade de la Beaujoire
3 July 1980ParisLe Bourget
6 July 1980DublinIrelandDalymount Park
8 July 1980BrightonEnglandBrighton Conference Centre
9 July 1980
10 July 1980GlasgowScotlandThe Apollo
11 July 1980
12 July 1980QueensferryWalesDeeside Leisure Centre
13 July 1980StaffordEnglandNew Bingley Hall
16 September 1980BostonUnited StatesJB Hynes Auditorium
17 September 1980Providence, Rhode IslandMeehan Auditorium
19 September 1980New York CityMadison Square Gardenopener for The Commodores
20 September 1980
23 September 1980PittsburghStanley Theater
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