After the power outage in DC on Friday, July 15th, Tarrus Riley came back to the Howard Theatre for the rescheduled show on Monday July 18th. Although it was a weekday and the show did not begin until 11:00pm, the room was still packed with Tarrus Riley fans for the just over ninety minute performance. The Blak Soil Band began to play a melody as the curtain raised prompting the crowd to rush to the front of the stage. Saxophonist, Dean Fraser, warmly greeted the crowd and welcomed Tarrus Riley on Stage.
After days of anticipation, Tarrus Riley made his way to the stage and thanked the crowd for their patience and began with “Getty Getty No Want It”. Riley went on to sing Human Nature, Love’s Contagious, Beware, Start A New, Far Away and Superman.
Tarrus encouraged the crowd to participate, jump up and down, and clap and sing. Blak Soil Band’s bass player, Glen Browne, gave thanks for life and delivered a positive message. From there, Tarrus Riley began to sing Jah Jah Run Things before continuing with his good over evil message singing Lion Paw and Never Leave I.
During the high energy dancehall segment of the show, Tarrus showed the crowd his dance moves comprised of several other familiar dances, which he named The Singy Singy. Blak Soil Band Pianist, Christopher Smith, performed a solo of George Michael’s Faith with a reggae twist. Tarrus Riley sang Free Up and My Herbs before performing his new song, Nuh Need Fi Worry. Riley took time to teach the crowd the chorus of My Day and the entire building sang out; “Well it’s my day to do anything I want to, it’s my time and I’ll use it any way I want to, it’s my life and I’m responsible for every action, it’s all mine, my day, my time, my life”. Riley than sang Powerful with the help of Dean Fraser and Christopher Smith before moving on to Something Strong.
Tarrus Riley reminded the crowd this was their time to sing along as he honored many Reggae classics. The crowd sang along to Sanchez’s version of Baby Can I Hold You Tonight, Beres Hammond’s Tempted To Touch, Garnett Silk’s Mama Africa, and Gregory Isaac’s Night Nurse. After reintroducing himself as Omar "Singy Singy" Tarrus Riley, he let the crowd know that Omar means son of a king. Tarrus Riley proceeded to cover the song of the king, his late father, Jimmy Riley’s Love and Devotion. Riley continued the tribute covering Dennis Brown’s Rougher Yet and Marcia Griffith’s version of The First Cut is the Deepest.
The crowd was then taken on a love journeywhen Tarrus Riley performed Sorry Is a Sorry Word, Don’t Come Back, Karma, 1 2 3 I Love You and John Legend’s Stay With You. Christopher Smith came forward and paid homage to Buju Banton singing Wanna Be Loved, accompanied by Tarrus energetically moving across the stage singing in his deep Buju voice, Love Sponge. Dean Fraser also played his part on Not an Easy Road with Tarrus Riley joining in with lyrics. The show continued with She’s Royal and it sounded as if the entire theatre sang along to this one. Tarrus let the crowd know this is the part of the show where you burn calories and that everyone needed to jump up as the beat dropped for Gimme Likkle One Drop.
Tarrus Riley left the stage, but after the crowd chanted his name he came back and spoke to the crowd about the times we are living in before singing Crazy Love and Good Girl Gone Bad. Tarrus Riley has amazing energy and he is a great artist to watch live. I love his interaction with the crowd and I look forward to seeing him on his next visit to DC.
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