By Anil Batra, Picatra Music Journal.
Buju Banton and Stephen Marley brought their "Roots and Rhymes" tour to Leader Bank Pavilion in Boston on July 9, 2026, one stop on a summer run that also touched down at Marymoor Park in Redmond, the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, Red Rocks in Colorado, Milwaukee's Summerfest, and Bethel Woods in upstate New York. The Boston bill opened with Gramps Morgan, followed by Stephen Marley, with Buju Banton closing out the night as headliner.
Two different lineages of Jamaican music sharing a stage instead of playing to separate crowds.
Banton played a 90-minute set to close the show — a substantial run time in keeping with his reputation for generous, immersive live performances that stretch across both his biggest anthems and deeper catalog cuts. The pairing with Marley made for a distinctive bill in its own right: Banton's music comes out of the grittier, dancehall-rooted side of Jamaican reggae, shaped by his years as a defining voice in that scene, while Marley carries the more melodic, roots-leaning tradition tied to his father Bob Marley's legacy, filtered through his own work as a Grammy-winning producer and multi-instrumentalist. Having both artists on one bill, rather than touring separately, gave the night unusual range — two different lineages of Jamaican music sharing a stage instead of playing to separate crowds.
The venue likely shaped the evening as much as the lineup did. Leader Bank Pavilion sits directly on Boston's waterfront, an open-air setting well suited to reggae's dynamic swings — room to move between singalong anthems and slower, more atmospheric material without the boxed-in feel of an indoor room.