Inner Circle treks 18-show tour…shares dates with UB40’s Red Red Wine Tour
With nearly 50 years of touring under their belt, Inner Circle remains one of the top touring reggae acts, hitting the road annually for shows in North and South America and Europe.
Their latest trek of the United States starts June 14 in Cary, North Carolina.
That show also features fellow veterans Third World and guitarist Junior Marvin of The Wailers fame.
Keyboardist Bernard “Touter” Harvey, who joined Inner Circle in 1974, said the band has clocked countless miles since their first full-fledged tour in 1977.
“It’s easier to list the places where we’ve not been as yet globally. Primarily most of Africa, China and Uruguay. We’ve been in the Middle East but not visited Saudi Arabia, Iran or Iraq, even though our songs have some popularity there,” he told the Jamaica Observer. “The only state in the USA that we’ve not been to is Alaska.”
Most popular of their songs are Bad Boys and Sweat, pop anthems that reignited Inner Circle’s fortunes during the 1990s. The former is theme song for the hit movies of the same name starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.
Harvey, who made his name as a session musician, played on Bob Marley and The Wailers’ Natty Dread album as well as Marcus Garvey by Burning Spear. He spoke about life on the road and how it has changed over the years.
“Touring has not changed much for us; the biggest difference is we’re performing to a younger audience, from my observation. I guess this new audience grew up listening to our music on TV or heard their parents enjoying it,” he said.
On their upcoming tour, Inner Circle will play 18 shows with a handful of dates being on UB40’s Red Red Wine Tour. Those gigs take place July 19, 20 and 21 in Park City, Utah; Fort Hall, Idaho; and Tacoma, Washington, respectively.
The Miami-based Grammy winners are also scheduled to perform in Kalamazoo, Michigan; Cocoa Beach and St Petersburg in Florida; Ashland and Salem in Oregon; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Primm, Nevada; Rohnert Park and Los Angeles, California; and Tucson, Arizona.
The latter show, on August 4, is also part of the UB40 tour.
On July 6, Inner Circle is one of the acts billed for the Nostalgia Reggae Lovers Festival in Marrakech, Morocco.
Inner Circle formed in Kingston in 1968 by brothers Roger (rhythm guitar) and Ian Lewis (bass). They had a string of hit singles during the 1970s with Jacob Miller as lead singer. Those songs included Tenement Yard, Disciplined Child, Tired fe Lick Weed In A Bush, and Standing Firm.
Miller died in an auto crash in Kingston in March 1980 at age 27.
Lead singer Trevor “Skatta” Bonnick, drummer Lancelot Hall, keyboardist Charles Farquharson, and lead guitarist Benji Baez are also current members of Inner Circle.
