It was the perfect song to end with each night.
Written by Bob Marley and Peter Tosh after witnessing poverty conditions in Haiti, The Wailers’ “Get Up, Stand Up” has become a rallying cry the world over since its original release in 1973.
Marley used to end his own concerts with “Get Up, Stand Up,” and it was the last song he ever performed on stage. Rolling Stone wrote that it may be “the most potent song ever about human rights and the fight to secure them.”
All of which made “Get Up, Stand Up,” a fitting closer for every show on the 1988 Human Rights Now! Tour. At the end of each night, the assembled artists (almost always including Bruce, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Tracey Chapman, Youssou N’Dour, plus whoever else might have joined the line-up for a particular show) performed “Get Up, Stand Up,” as their final encore, leading the audience in a massive singalong.
Bruce had never performed the song live before the Human Rights Now! Tour, and he hasn’t performed it since–except for once: at the tenth anniversary benefit concert for the original tour in the autumn of 1998 in Paris.
Sting wasn’t there for the occasion, but the rest of the original line-up was.
Although “Get Up, Stand Up” is still as timely as ever, Bruce hasn’t performed the song since.
But we can still relive both his 1988 and 1998 performances thanks to official releases of both by Amnesty International.
Get Up, Stand Up
First performed: September 2, 1988 (London, England)
Last performed: December 10, 1998 (Paris, France)
There’s a lovely little moment during the first go at the chorus where Bruce and Sting are flanking Tracy Chapman and Bruce lowers the mic so Tracy can be heard. Classy. Great to see this. I saw the sho in Montreal and the acoustics were so terrible that it’s entirely possible that the vocals are STILL echoing in the Olympic Stadium.