UK Top 10 News

The modest seaside town of Bexhill in East Sussex holds a unique place in music history as the location for what is believed to be Bob Marley’s first-ever UK performance.
The landmark event took place on July 16, 1972, at the De La Warr Pavilion, long before Marley became a global icon of reggae and resistance.
Bob Marley and The Wailers arrived in the UK as the support act and backing band for the established reggae singer Johnny Nash.
The concert itself was a charity event, organised by the Bexhill Lions Club to raise funds for Glyne Gap School.
Andy Hannah, who was 15 in 1972 and attended the gig, recalled the excitement, noting, ‘It was mobbed.
Everybody was so excited.’ Despite the general excitement, Hannah admitted the reaction to Marley himself was ‘a bit muted,’ explaining that ‘Not many people had heard of him’ at the time, and he personally was there primarily for Johnny Nash.
However, he distinctly remembered Marley’s exceptional talent, stating, ‘But what I can remember is what a fantastic voice Bob Marley had.’ Marley performed to an audience of approximately 1,000 people that day.
Naomi Scully, events manager at the De La Warr Pavilion, reflected on the significance of the moment for the artist, suggesting, ‘It must have felt so exciting for him to be in this space’ as it was his first international tour.
She added that Marley ‘must have really felt he was at the start of something,’ a prediction that would, of course, prove profoundly true as his career exploded in the following years, cementing his legacy as a music legend.