We saw the royal family of reggae only last year on the stage of Couleur Café, but their most recent indoor show on Belgian soil dated already from 2005, when they blew away the Antwerp club Petrol. No wonder Het Depot in Leuven filled up quite nicely with fans wanting to enjoy the Morgan clan performing live again.
Your scribe turned up at the venue fairly early. High'r Ites sound system had already started the warming up. Their set, brimming with heavy roots, took a bit longer than anticipated, but after little more than half an hour things finally started moving on stage.
Before Morgan Heritage took to the stage, we were treated to Jemere Morgan, son of Gramps and already the third generation of the Morgans to opt for a musical career. He was given the opportunity to present three tracks to the Belgian audience. The crowd was especially enamoured with his hit single 'Neighborhood Girl', a revamp of John Holt's 'Sweetie Come Brush Me'. It was abundantly clear that Jemere has inherited the Morgan genes.
However, the gathering was evidently waiting for the main act, and in a show lasting nearly two hours, with a set list of more than 20 songs, alternating tracks from their most recent album 'Here Come The Kings' and hits from their extensive back catalogue, Peter, Gramps, Mojo, Lukes and Una gave their fans exactly what they asked for.
The Morgans opened their set appropriately with 'The Return', followed by 'Don't Haffi Dread', the big Morgan anthem, which was this time sneaked into the show conspicuously early. 'Liberation', (originally released on the one riddim compilation 'Morgan Heritage Family & Friends Volume 1') was a sheer highlight. For the occasion they played it as a megamix, incorporating the versions of Jah Cure ('Love The Solution'), Ras Shiloh ('Unto Zion'), Capleton ('Jah Jah City') and of course LMS ('Never').
Also nice was 'Girl Is Mine', a track from 'Here Come The Kings', performed as a duet by Peter and Gramps acting like love rivals, but of course originally by Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney.
Come 'Reggae Bring Back Love', executed in a version flowing into Toots & The Maytals' 'Bam Bam', we honestly thought that it was over, but the crowd asked for more and got it. Next up were the lovers tune 'She's Still Loving Me' and 'Helping Hand', and closer 'Nothing To Smile About', a big hit on the Rub A Dub riddim from their 'Mission In Progress' album, which obviously couldn't be missing from the set either.
Morgan Heritage is a well-oiled music machine and their shows are sometimes described as "too American", but for yours truly they are still one of the best acts around in the reggae genre, so we returned home more than satisfied.
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