The "For the Love of it Tour," featuring Jamaican stars Beres Hammond and Marcia Griffiths, along with the Harmony House singers and New York City's Leon The Peoples, held sway until midnight -- after starting 90 minutes late. Griffiths first came to fame in her native country in the late 1960s as a vocalist at Coxone Dodds famous Studio One. After releasing records under her own name and as part of the duo Marcia and Bob (with Bob Andy), she formed the I-Threes, a vocal trio including Judy Mowatt and Rita Marley that accompanied pioneering reggae superstar Bob Marley on worldwide tours from 1974 to 1980.
In Albany, Griffiths served chestnuts from throughout her career, singing supplely over a nine-piece band. In a slinky dress and glittering headgear, she delivered "I Shall Sing (as Long as I Live)" as though it were an anthem. Love songs like "Closer to You" (from the same 1995 "Indomitable" album as "Sing") and "Fire Burning" were passionate.
Griffiths also paid tribute to Marley with snippets of "Could You Be Loved" and "Redemption Song," the latter sung a cappella. At the Armory, he riled up the crowd with occasional high kicks and frequent shouts of "Albany!" He also pushed abbreviated versions of songs into hit medleys.
It's an old stage trick that always works, but one wished for slightly more of stuff like the hooky "She Loves Me Now." His breakthrough hit, "Tempted to Touch," was slinky and sexy, especially when it broke down to a finger-snapping groove courtesy of his own backing vocal trio. Hammond also had his own anthem to sing, namely "Putting Up Resistance," which he originally recorded with the legendary U-Roy.
It was the highlight of his show, and was marked instrumentally by a strong, surging alto sax solo. Leon The Peoples opened with a long set of pop-inflected reggae that, in addition to nods to Marley-mate Peter Tosh, included thumping versions of Chicago's "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" and Smokey Robinson's "I Second That Emotion.
" With: Marcia Griffith, The Harmony House Singers, and Leon The Peoples When: 7:30 p.m. Monday Highlights: Hammond's "Putting Up Resistance" and Griffiths' "I Shall Sing.
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