La Belle Angele, Edinburgh

9th March 2017

***

After a bright, blue, crisp, crisp day in Edinburgh, as the chilly night grew closer, the city was ready to play host to one of Jamaica finest exports. A certain iconic and legendary master of reggae and dub was about to conjure up his own Caribbean heatwave in the corridors of the La Belle Angele in the Cowgate.  As the venue filled up the anticipation grew & the excitement was clear to see. A little later & in an explosion of hustle & bustle, Lee Scratch Perry emerged and proceeded to make his way to the back stage in the midst of what seemed like a million cheers. With his band taking stage first, we were invited to skank along, until the master glided on to the stage with the same finesse he has carried throughout his career. Let the show commence !!!!

The evening was well under way and it was not long until the La Belle Angele had turned into a melting pot of hot sweat and warm sticky bodies, bouncing around like they were on those  Space Hoppers from the 70s. The band were sharp, tight and well tuned &  delivering track after track they contributed more than what was expected of them and lifted the audience to a another level.  Lee Scratch Perry, the producer, singer, song writer and the icon for so many decades, had the crowd in a hypnotic state of pure dance.   Dressed in his traditional way, the King still gave us a performance to remember.  A selection of old and new material was catapulted at us like time had stood still, with Perry performing with all his heart and genius like it was yesterday. As the gig was heading to a close we were all treated with the soul warming sound of Exodus which allowed the audience to engulf themselves in one last memorable dance to honour the excellence of a true artist who has changed the music scene forever…

As the crowds dispersed and the heat retreated, The Mumble had the pleasure and the opportunity to have a short interview and picture session with Lee Scratch Perry . I asked him a few small, but relevant question such as: How did living in London compare to living in Jamaica, his answer — ‘Good.‘  Asking him how he liked Edinburgh, he also answered ‘Good.’  The impression was that everything in his life was, and is, ‘Good.’  A genuine gentleman that gave a lot of people a night to surely cherish for many years to come.  The Mumble feels proud to have been invited to be part of a special night and to have had the chance to be humbled by such a legend.  Big thanks to the band and Mr Perry for covering our city with love and dance….  All the best for the rest of the tour…

Reviewed by Raymondo