Friday night brought an amazing opportunity to the centre of Brighton – reggae legend Toots Hibbert, lead singer of The Maytals, was bringing his reunion tour to town after a three years absence from the stage. Toots had suffered a severe head injury when an audience member lobbed a large bottle of spirits onto the stage – giving the ageing star what could only be described as a healthy dose of stage-fright. As the man who named reggae, for their 1968 single 'Do The Reggay', and went on to provide some of the most enduring hits in the 70s and early 80s heyday of the genre, I couldn't miss the chance to see him perform.

First, though, the support act Captain Accident & The Disasters deserve a mention. The Cardiff-based band played a good warm-up set with some decent soulful reggae numbers and few more up-tempo ska tracks, that didn't quite work so well in my opinion. There was a bit too much wobble in the bass to be able to discern the line when the notes were faster – but it's a minor criticism. The Captain himself had a fine voice, which weirdly at times I felt had the slightest hint of Michael Jackson to it! The band were great too – particularly the lead guitarist, who had a great tone. Apparently, as a recording project, Captain Accident works alone with The Disasters only joining him for the live show. He's already on his third album, so quite an established artist in his own right. I shall have to keep a look out as it would be good to see these guys playing their own show, but tonight of course was all about Toots, and you could tell these guys were as excited as the rest of the crowd.

First of all I'll get a few misgivings I had about the show out of the way – when guitarist Carl Harvey announced that Toots' daughter Leba was going to open their set with a few songs I couldn't help but worry this was an indication that Toots might be padding the set out as he didn't have the energy of his younger days. As it turns out I couldn't have been more wrong, Leba has an amazing voice and continues Toots' tradition of combining other musical elements, like rock, ska and funk, with the classic reggae grooves. Her short intro set included a track that had elements of a very modern R’N’B sound for the verses and a nice pop-reggae groove in the chorus – also she's got a helluva pair of lungs on her. At the end of her first number, with the microphone held a couple of feet away from her mouth, she filled the room with a huge gospel wail, and you could tell Toots just wanted us to see that the apple didn't fall far from the tree here!

As for the man himself, when he took to the stage I was a tiny bit disappointed at first to note that he was backed by three female singers, when, to my ears the classic Toots and the Maytals sound is that of male close-harmony gospel vocals married to the excellent grooves provided by legends like Jackie Jackson (bass) and Paul Douglas (drums), who sat rock-solid at the back of the stage tonight. Those classic recordings are all about that vocal sound for me, but, as it turns out Toots is the only male voice necessary to conjure it all up tonight. His huge, soulful lead vocal dominates the room for a set that takes us through all of the familiar hits, starting off with a solid rendition of 'Pressure Drop' – a massive tune you might have expected later in the night. There was an early song with Toots playing acoustic guitar, which was a little too loud in the mix, that seemed to meander a bit but, with that out of the way, the set flowed beautifully and the group went from strength to strength.

Toots is one of those old school entertainers who brings a bit of variety to the show. The band sit back while he fills the stage, charging around the front, drawing all the attention until he wants you to notice a great vocal line from one of his backing singers (including Leba) or a solo from one of his band. The band are insanely tight and stretch the hits with ease and the sort of confidence you would expect from veterans like these. Their dynamics are phenomenal too. Most of the night the volume levels are relaxed and easy, but when they want to turn things up a notch there's a huge range they can reach to. Like when on more than one occasion, they bring a number home with a James Brown-esque funk turnaround. Toots is so charming too, and you can tell he's loving this, being playful with the crowd as he works them into call and response routines. The dancing in the stalls went all the way back to the sound desk. At one point, during 'Monkey Man', a cheeky middle-aged mod tried to invade the stage to dance around like an ape. The security guard was on him in seconds, forcefully charging him back to the crowd, but Toots tried to intervene – to let the guy run free! It's a fantastic moment and shows just how far he's come from the fear that kept him out of the public eye these last few years. The band leave the stage, but of course we won't let them go home without an encore – he's not played the signature '54-46 That's My Number' about a brief incarceration. When they return to the stage Toots says they've just been told they've out-stayed their welcome by ten minutes already, so they can only play one more song. They then went on to stretch it out to epic proportions, it easily lasted for twenty glorious minutes and the crowd were going wild. I left the show with the biggest, dumbest grin on my face and wandered home with a renewed love of some of the stuff I hadn't been as big a fan of before, like 'Country Road' and 'Sweet & Dandy', which were both very special on the night. I knew it was going to be a treat but I don't think I was prepared for quite how special the night would be, if you get the chance you must see this band of legends – they're at the top of their game.
Adam Kidd