The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
UB40 Reggae greats to play Dundee. See What’s On
Slessor Gardens, Dundee, May 20
Not content with launching an album, UB40 founder Ali Campbell has released a bottle of plonk.
“Come and have a glass with me when we play Dundee,” he says. “It’s a Bordeaux superior, you’ll love it.”
And the name on the bottle? Red, Red Wine, of course.
There’ll be something to toast tomorrow when UB40 are the stars of the first major concert to be held at Dundee’s newest performing space.
Girl band Little Mix and X Factor star Olly Murs will be performing at Slessor Gardens later in the summer. However, the reggae legends will be the first to christen the waterfront site. They’ll be joined by fellow 80s group Level 42 and Campbell says they’re planning to give Dundee a night to remember.
“It’s a great city and I hear there’s a lot going on there at the moment,” he says.
The same could be said for the 58-year-old songwriter, who is still working at a breakneck pace.
“I’m just back from Moscow,” he continues. “We played in front of 30,000 in a huge stadium and 10 million on telly.
“Before that we were touring in South Africa and Zambia and we did Clearwater Jazz Festival in Florida.”
He wears his frenetic touring schedule as a badge of honour.
“We’re the most toured British band of all time,” he says. “If you take other big bands like Madness they took a 14-year break but we’ve never stopped touring. We’ve done more world tours than any other band, I’m sure of it.”
The band formed in 1978, their name a reference to the dole document of the time – Unemployment Document Form 40.
They went on to release some of the biggest selling singles of the 1980s, with their takes on Red Red Wine, Can’t Help Falling in Love and I Got You Babe all topping the charts. Ali left the band in 2008 after 30 years, along with fellow original member Mickey Virtue. Rapper and musician Astro joined their line up in 2013.
The split was notoriously bitter and any thoughts that bygones might be bygones between Campbell and his former bandmates are quickly scotched.
“It’s still all very acrimonious. They’re trying to stop me from working and I’m having to defend myself in expensive ways,” he says.
Alongside a busy tour schedule, Campbell has found time to write and release a new album, Unplugged, with his 11-piece band, which is notable for its absence of bass.
“We just went with guitar, bass drum and a lot of percussion, and we didn’t really think about it until we had actually finished and realised we had done a reggae album without bass – which is unprecedented really.”