Catch a Fire Tour

Catch a Fire Tour 1973

Tour by The Wailers
Start date	27 April 1973
End date	21 July 1973
Legs	2
No. of shows	28 in England 9 in the United States 37 in total
The Wailers concert chronology

The Catch a Fire was a concert tour organised to support the album Catch a Fire by The Wailers (Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer).

The tour began at the Coleman Club in Nottingham, England, on 27 April 1973, as the first show in Peckham had been cancelled before, and ended with four shows at Max's Kansas City in New York City, in late July. In October they performed as an opening act for the Atlee Yeager Band and Sly and the Family Stone (who served as the headliners), in a figure skating hall in Las Vegas, New Mexico. The majority of the audience thought The Wailers, an American rock band, would perform, but they were surprised seeing a Jamaican band; Mark Paul, the drummer of the Atlee Yeager Band said that they looked like biblical figures from the Old Testament. ^[1] Bunny Wailer refused to participate in the second tour leg in the United States and was replaced by Joe Higgs.

Setlist

Unlike on later tours and although very little is publicly known yet about the concert setlist of the Catch a Fire Tour, the setlist greatly varied on almost every show. What can be said from the known recordings is that:

• all songs from the album had been performed at least once, except for "Baby We've Got A Date (Rock It Baby)"
• all shows included one or two songs by Peter Tosh (mostly "Stop That Train", sometimes also "400 Years")
• songs like "Rastaman Chant", "Slave Driver", "Burnin' And Lootin'" or "Lively Up Yourself" were rather played in the first part of the set when performed.
• songs like "Get Up, Stand Up", "Kinky Reggae" and "Concrete Jungle" were rather played towards the end of the set when performed.
• most shows featured also some songs prior to 1973 ("Rude Boy", "Lively Up Yourself", "Put It On", "Bend Down Low", "Don't Rock My Boat") and one song from the following album Burnin' ("Get Up, Stand Up").

Tour dates

Date	City	Country	Venue
April 1973	Peckham	United Kingdom	Admiral Ken's Bouncing Ball Club cancelled
27 April 1973	Nottingham		Coleman Club
28 April 1973	Lancaster		Lancaster University
29 April 1973	Peckham		Mr. B's
1 May 1973	London		The Old Grey Whistle Test BBC TV music show
			Top Gear BBC radio program
2 May 1973	Hatfield		Hatfield Polytechnic
4 May 1973	Heslington		University of York
5 May 1973	Manchester		Manchester University
6 May 1973	Wolverhampton		67 Club
8 May 1973	Colchester		Essex University
9 May 1973	Bristol		Boobs
11 May 1973	Stafford		North Staffs Polytechnic with Roy Wood's Wizzard
12 May 1973	Teesside		Middleton St George College
13 May 1973	Peckham		Mr. B's
15 May 1973	London		The Speakeasy Club
16 May 1973
17 May 1973
18 May 1973
19 May 1973	Hitchin		Town Hall
20 May 1973	Hammersmith		Greyhound Pub
22 May 1973	Northampton		Fantasia
23 May 1973	Leicester		Leicester Polytechnic
24 May 1973	London		Paris Theatre BBC radio show
25 May 1973	Exmouth		Rolle College
26 May 1973	Bristol		Bamboo Club
27 May 1973	Hitchin		Sundown
28 May 1973	Birmingham		Birmingham Top Rank
29 May 1973	Southampton		Coach House
11 July 1973	Boston	United States	Paul's Mall
12 July 1973
13 July 1973
14 July 1973
15 July 1973
18 July 1973	New York City		Max's Kansas City Opening act for Bruce Springsteen
19 July 1973
20 July 1973
21 July 1973

Notes

1. White 1983, p, 251

References

• White, Timothy. Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1983. 51. Print.