Smile Jamaica Concert


The Smile Jamaica Concert was a concert held on 5 December 1976, at the National Heroes Park, Kingston, Jamaica, performed by Bob Marley & The Wailers. Marley originally agreed to perform one song for the 80,000 people in attendance; however, it turned into a whole 90-minute performance—despite his injuries sustained two days earlier when he had almost been killed by gunmen in his own house.
All Wailers performed except bassist Aston "Familyman" Barrett, who was replaced by Cat Coore of Third World.

Overview

The performance included a horn section.
The set list for the show was as follows
1. War/ No More Trouble/ Get Up Stand Up
2. Crazy Baldhead/ Positive Vibration
3. Smile Jamaica
4. Rat Race
5. TrenchTown Rock
6. Keep on Moving
7. Want More
8. Them Belly Full
9. Jah Live
10. Rastaman Chant
11. Rebel Music
12. So Jah Seh
After the concert Marley left Jamaica for Nassau and later London where he stayed for 16 months until he returned in 1978 for the One Love Peace Concert.

In popular culture

Jamaican Television has a morning show named Smile Jamaica, an obvious nod to the popularity of the concert series.
Stir It Up: The CIA Targets Jamaica, Bob Marley and the Progressive Manley Government, an alternative historical novel by David Dusty Couples, weaves fact and fiction to dramatize the concert.
The novel A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James dramatizes the attempt on Marley's life, including other events leading up to the Smile Jamaica concert.