SPEAKEASY CONCERTS
Following the early critical acclaim for Catch A Fire (released December 1972), the Wailers planned their first British tour. Mick Cater, employed by the Island Artists management division of Island Records, was responsible for setting up the Wailers' tour.

Before long he had set up a string of thirty-one dates, fifteen of which were in Jamaican reggae clubs. There was a distinct contrast to the principal London d ates, however. The Wailers were slotted in for four nights at The Speakeasy, a long fashionable, somewhat elitist club catering largely to musicians and the music business.

KSAN BROADCAST
In October 1973, Bob Marley and the Wailers embarked on the final dates of their debut American tour. The schedule included 17 shows as support to Sly & The Family Stone, the number one band in black American music. It seems the Wailers had been too good; support bands should not detract from the main attraction. They were now stranded in Las Vegas, their tour at a premature end.

The Wailers had accepted a last moment booking to play the Matrix, a club in San Francisco. A local radio station, the pioneering KSAN-FM, had been giving prime airtime to the band's recently released album, Catch A Fire.
 

LONDON LYCEUM CONCERTS
Natty Dread was released in 1974 to much critical acclaim. A US and European tour was set up to promote the album, including two nights at London's Lyceum Ballroom in July 1975. Natty Dread had not only appealed to a hip white audience, but for the first time British resident Jamaicans had gone for Bob's music en masse, the shows selling out in less than a day. On the first night, the Metropolitan Police's notorious Special Patrol Group was sent into action to clear the streets around the venue of over 3,000 people, mainly Jamaicans, who were trying to get in to see Bob Marley without tickets. Two fire doors were demolished, and Tyrone Downie found himself locked out of the venue, almost missing the beginning of the performance.
 

SMILE JAMAICA CONCERT
There had always been political overtones about the Smile Jamaica concert, scheduled for 5 December 1976 at Kingston's National Heroes Park. At first Chris Blackwell had advised against the show, which had originally been scheduled to take place in the grounds of the Jamaica House: what Bob told him about the proposed show suggested it was to be billed as a PNP event. Bob Marley went back to Michael Manley, and was assured that this was the last thing the Prime Minister wanted. Bob was being invited by the government of Jamaica and would therefore be performing for the entire nation: the 'Smile Jamaica' poster was to contain the words, 'Concert presented by Bob Marley in association with the Cultural Department of the Government of Jamaica'.

EXODUS TOUR
The first five songs of the Exodus album were devoted to the failed assassination attempt against Bob Marley in December 1976, shortly before his Smile Jamaica concert. His exile to London in January seemed only to accelerate his creative flow: Exodus was recorded in less than three months and released in May 1977. A month later Bob and The Wailers began a European tour in Paris, 200 miles from the Tuff Gong's temporary home in London. The shows on tour were his first live appearances since the attempt on his life. The on-the-road discipline had intensified, the energy from the rapid recording sessions still guiding Marley. It was, noted I-Three Judy Mowatt, like taking a church on tour.

ONE LOVE PEACE CONCERT
At the beginning of 1978 in Kingston, there were only two real topics of conversation: the increasing shortage of goods on sale in the island's stores, the consequence of Washington's efforts to bankrupt the Manley government; and the imminent return of Bob Marley to Jamaica, a hero coming back from his self-imposed exile following the attempt on his life in December 1976.

The shooting had been but the most public example of an extraordinary outbreak of murders in Jamaica. Gun law ruled the land. Both political parties, the ruling People's National Party and the right-wing Jamaican Labour Party, had hired ruthless teams of ghetto gunmen - some of them, like JLP's Claudie Massop and the PNP's Bucky Marshall, began to take on an almost superstar status.

REGGAE SUNSPLASH II
The Wailers' performance at Reggae Sunsplash II in Montego Bay was the group's first show in Jamaica since the One Love Peace Concert (April 1978).

It was a reasoning at 56 Hope Road between Bob, Family Man and the event's promoters that had spawned the first Sunsplash in 1978.

However, Marley had missed the inaugural event because he was away on the Kaya world tour. This time, Bob was determined to play at Reggae Sunsplash II to give the festival a boost.

ZIMBABWE INDEPENDENCE CELEBRATION
In April 1980, Bob Marley and the Wailers were afforded the highest honor of their musical careers. On April 18th, the country Rhodesia was to celebrate its independence from England and Bob Marley and The Wailers were invited to perform at the ceremony. From that day forward the African nation was to be called Zimbabwe. Officials from Zimbabwe's government-elect invited Marley and the band to perform at the Independence ceremonies. Cost was to be no barrier: Marley, whose "Zimbabwe" tune had proved inspirational to the ZANLA (Zimbabwe National Liberation Army) freedom fighters, was paying for it all out of his own pocket. He would be playing amidst the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, an enormous pyramid built by Solomon and Sheba.