Bob Marley concert at The Greyhound in London, UK
Sun, 20 May 1973

We were young students at Barnet College of FE in N London. We were thrilled and excited to venture down to Brixton, The Greyhound pub. Yes we were white and stayed on the balcony to watch and just loved every minute. For some reason a sense of respect not to go to the front/ hard to explain. What an atmosphere ! Bob Marley, the Wailers and Peter Tosh. Legends and I'm so proud to say I was there.

A friend at college (The London College of Printing, Elephant and Castle) talked me into going with him to see this new reggae band at The Greyhound. I think he was nervous about going there on his own because at the time The Wailers only appealed to the West Indian community in London, and he was very white. We turned up there and sure enough we were just about the only white faces in the crowd. We were up on the balcony above the stage and very visible.
The original Wailers were all there, and Marley shared the limelight and alternated lead vocals with Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingstone. The sound was fat and crisp and the audience was absolutely in the Wailers' pockets. When they began Get up, Stand up, all the audience got up, stood up and stood up for their rights. I was someone a bit nervous about venturing into Brixton, and here I was surrounded by a almost totally black audience standing up for their rights, yet I didn't feel threatened at all. They played most of Catch a Fire which they were promoting -- I particularly remember Slave Driver, Catch a Fire, Concrete Jungle, Stop that Train, Kinky Reggae and Stir it up.
After the concert we headed, blown away by the concert, for Hammersmith to get the tube home. On the other side of the Street, Bob Marley, carrying his guitar and wearing his trademark lumberjack shirt, was walking fast in the same direction. We shouted our compliments across the street and Marley looked at us, smiled and shouted back "Thanks, mon!" before disappearing down a sidestreet.