Start date 5 April 1979 Legs 2 | End date 6 May 1979 | |
No. of shows 8 in Asia
11 in Oceania
19 in total | ||
The Babylon by Bus Tour was a concert tour organised to support the album Babylon by Bus by Bob Marley & The Wailers. It was also to popularize Marley and reggae music in Asia and Oceania.
The tour started in Japan on 5 April 1979, and ended in Honolulu, Hawaii, on 6 May 1979. The tour should have started with two shows in Ivory Coast in mid-March, but both concerts had been cancelled due to unknown reasons. The first leg led Marley through Japan where he performed for the first time, the second leg took place in various Oceanian places (New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii). It was Marley's only tour including concerts in Asia and Oceania.
After the tour Marley performed two historical concerts: his last performance in Jamaica, at the Reggae Sunsplash, and at the Amandla Festival in Boston's Harvard Stadium where he made a powerful and historical speech.
Setlist
The standard setlist of the tour mostly looked like the following:
The setlist was very similar to that from the previous Kaya Tour, but in different order. There were also performances of an earlier song, "Punky Reggae Party", which is not featured on any of Marley's Island albums released at that time, but was released as a single in 1977.
From show to show sometimes an additional song was edged in the middle of the setlist, like "Stir It Up", "Punky Reggae Party" or "Natty Dread". Live performances of each of these songs happened very rarely during the tour.