Review: Michael Rose & Andrew Tosh backed by RasItes in Stuttgart, Germany 6/2/2010

by Valentin Zill

Review: Michael Rose & Andrew Tosh backed by RasItes @ Universum in Stuttgart,

Germany 6/2/2010

Take a petite, assessable club that is well-attended by Reggae lovers, put some Roots Reggae

legends on stage and you can enjoy a slice of heaven. „Fire Alarm“ is the name of the party series in

Club Universum in Stuttgart, Germany that offers a forum for Reggae and Dancehall music in all its

varieties. The „Fire Alarm“ series regularly answers its claim of presenting top-class line-ups. Last

Wednesday, it couldn‘t have been much more high-carat: the son of the Bush Doctah and nephew of

Bunny Wailer, Andrew Tosh, and the man who won the first Reggae grammy and established the

Waterhouse-style, Michael Rose, entertained the Stuttgart Reggae massive. Both were backed by

the RasItes. They alone would have been enough to turn this evening into an unforgettable one.

More than half an hour after the official beginning, militant drumming and dirty guitar sound let the

massive flock to the dance floor. The RasItes take about 40 minutes of time to present their own

songs. The Roots band was established in London, UK in 1995 and so far has not only gained a

great deal of experience playing live, supporting Black Uhuru, The Abyssinians and Warrior King,

but also recorded two albums of their own. With tunes from their 2001 debut album „Urban

Regeneration“ and „Music“, „Disorder“ and the title track „Sex, Violence and Drugs“ of their

felicitous current album from 2008 the RasItes soon brought the crowd to working temperature.

With a short medley consisting of Peter Tosh‘s greatest classics the RasItes, who obviously enjoyed

the show to the max, handed over the lead mic to Andrew. He sparked the massive with the most

important hits of his father. He starts with „Buckingham Palace“, sings „Burial“, „African“, „Mystic

Man“ that features a mesmerizing Dub part, „Crystal Ball“ and the Rock-influenced „Johnny B.

Goode“. The „Equal Rights/Downpressor Man“ medley, a regular of his father‘s setlists, sets the

first highlight of Andrew Tosh‘s show. If you look around the crowd you look into blessed faces.

„Coming In Hot“ might be better suited as the show‘s opener. After „Rastafari Is“, Andrew Tosh

says goodbye with the crowd-pleaser „Legalize It“.

As rich in classics as Andrew‘s setlist is Michael Rose‘s. He performs almost exclusively tunes with

which he led Black Uhuru to international success. „Party In Session“, „Plastic Smile“, „I Love

King Selassie“, „Youth Of Eglington“ or „Black Uhuru Anthem“ - scarcely anybody in the

Universum who couldn‘t sing along every word. With „Shoot Out“ Michael Rose demonstrated that

he can do Dancehall, too. The Stuttgart massive receives this big tune very well. Michael and the

RasItes said good bye with a rocking outro. Reggae Bash and Lucky Punch Sound invited the

massive to dance the night away at their after-show party. Even Andrew Tosh dropped by.