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Bob Marley Festival: Roots Rock Reggae

With this year's Bob Marley: Roots Rock Reggae festival, it's obvious that the transformation of Robert Nesta Marley, a complex and thorny musician, into St. Bob of Kingston, kindly prophet of world harmony, is nearly complete. Love songs outnumbered Rasta jeremiads; between sets, a DJ spun tracks from Marley's gentler side, such as "Jammin'."

With this year’s Bob Marley: Roots Rock Reggae festival, it’s obvious that the transformation of Robert Nesta Marley, a complex and thorny musician, into St. Bob of Kingston, kindly prophet of world harmony, is nearly complete. Love songs outnumbered Rasta jeremiads; between sets, a DJ spun tracks from Marley’s gentler side, such as “Jammin’.” After the 3½ hour show, featuring Marley’s two eldest sons, Ziggy and Stephen, and Bunny Wailer — who sang beside Marley in the Wailers — someone could leave the Bowl under the impression that Rastafarianism is like the Ethical Culture Society, only with marijuana and with Marley as its milquetoast avatar.

Wailer filled the “Reggae Legend” slot in this year’s lineup, and it’s hard to believe that this gravely voiced 59-year-old once sang the high harmonies on the Wailers’ early singles. Dressed in a white suit accessorized by a scarf, tie and hat dyed in Rasta red, green and yellow, he commanded the stage like a gospel preacher, his voice deeper and coarser as he sang of “that ol’ time religion.” He was backed by a decent, if not especially sharp, band that included a three-piece horn section honking out lines reminiscent of both Stax and the Skatellites.

He ended his set with a sugar-coated “One Love,” which is turning into Marley’s “Imagine” — the song that, regardless of how atypical it may be of its composer’s output, is becoming his most beloved.

Stephen Marley’s perf provided the closest approximation of Bob’s sound, and half of his eight-song set were covers of his father’s songs. He’s got a wonderfully grainy and bluesy voice but lacks stage presence. The audience responded more positively to breezier romances such as “Sun Is Shining” and “Could You Be Loved” than to grittier fare such as “Burnin’ ” (although the last was given an undistinguished performance that drained the song of its tinderbox menace).

If Stephen comes off as the dutiful son, his brother Ziggy (who closed the show) is showing signs of chaffing under the yoke of Marley beatification. He did not perform any of his father’s songs, only joining with his brother and Wailer for a valedictory “Get Up. Stand Up,” which came off as less fist-shaking protest than chanted plea for unity.

The songs from his second solo album, “Love Is My Religion” (Tuff Gong), find him moving away from Reggae orthodoxy — the breezy “Into the Groove,” the playful “Black Cat” and “Beach in Hawaii” turn the music’s distinctive loping rhythms into something closer to the generic island beats favored by top 40 radio. On these songs, he’s no longer competing with his father but with current hitmakers such as Wyclef Jean, Timbaland and the Black Eyed Peas. “A Lifetime” confronts this decision directly, as he sings, “I may be different than you, criticized for what I do/ I chose to explore the truth, the truth of me.”

He included enough older, more traditional-sounding material to please the purists, but even he found Rasta politics a tough sell. It’s hard to tell if performing “Shalom Salaam,” with its refrain of “no peace for the children of Israel/Palestine,” was an act of rare bravery or tin-eared ignorance (either way, it has a catchy chorus), but there was a steady stream moving toward the exits while he sang.

Bob Marley Festival: Roots Rock Reggae

Hollywood Bowl; 17,391 seats; $111 top

  • Production: Presented by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Society and KCRW. With Ziggy Marley, Stephen Marley, Bunny Wailer, Ozomatli. Reviewed Aug. 13, 2006.