Live Review: Jimmy Cliff

Just four days before his 65th birthday, reggae legend Jimmy Cliff blew the roof off The Metro, rolling out classic hit after classic hit and buzzing with the energy of a performer half his age.

Coming on stage early after Tony Hughes' DJ set, Cliff looked every part the international ambassador of reggae in a sequinned yellow suit and a scarf in the colours of the red, yellow and green. With a nine-piece band of crack musicians behind him, Cliff got popular cover Wild World behind him early, possibly to test out the musicality of the crowd, who lent Cliff their voices in the choruses. It wasn't long before he was sectioning off the audience to sing “whoa-ohs” and “save our planet earth”.

Though Cliff was on song right from the start, his energy levels seemed to increase the longer he went on. Some of his dance moves were rather impressive and his voice – especially on the stunning gospel staple Many Rivers To Cross – still has that rich, warm timbre that brought him international fame in the late '60s. Cliff followed Many Rivers... with arguably his biggest hit The Harder They Come and I Can See Clearly Now, giving Cool Runnings a shout out in the introduction to the delight of the crowd.

The set's 20-minute climax involved Cliff and four of his band members sitting at the front of the stage playing percussion on hand drums and building beautiful traditional sounding harmonies around the central song Rivers Of Babylon, asking the crowd to join in and letting the music take over the venue as it evolved and changed.

Jimmy Cliff delivered a masterclass in putting on a memorable, exuberant live show.