UB40 feat. Ali, Astro & Mickey announce NZ & Rarotonga dates for their 40th Anniversary tour
UB40 Featuring Ali, Astro & Mickey have today announced their return down under for the ‘A Real Labour Of Love & The 40th Anniversary Tour’.
In addition to their previously announced appearance at the massive One Love Festival 2019 in Tauranga, the legendary reggae band - who earlier this year released A REAL LABOUR OF LOVE, their most successful album for 25 years - will play Napier’s Church Road Winery and Reggae By The River in Waitangi, Bay of Islands.
After One Love, the band heads to Rarotonga and Australia before returning to New Zealand for shows in Nelson and a very special
Waitangi Day show in Christchurch’s Hagley Park.
With 2019 marking 40 years since UB40 first performed live, the reggae icons will be celebrating with a ‘greatest hits’ set that features global smashes
including ‘Red Red Wine’, ‘Cherry Oh Baby’,‘Rat In Mi Kitchen’ and ‘Kingston Town’. Ali, Astro & Mickey will be joined on-stage by their incredible eight-piece band.
Tickets for all dates go on sale to Jacman Entertainment and Neptune Entertainment subscribers on Wednesday July 11 and to the general public on Thursday July 12.
Ticket and venue information for all shows at www.ub40.nz
THE BREEZE presents: UB40 FT ALI, ASTRO & MICKEY – THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR
FRIDAY 25 JANUARY - CHURCH ROAD, NAPIER
SATURDAY 26 JANUARY - REGGAE BY THE RIVER, WAITANGI,
BAY OF ISLANDS
TUESDAY 29 JANUARY - THE NATIONAL AUDITORIUM, RAROTONGA
TUESDAY 5 FEBRUARY - TRAFALGAR PARK, NELSON
WEDNESDAY 6 FEBRUARY - HAGLEY PARK, CHRISTCHURCH
(WAITANGI DAY SHOW!)
ARTIST INFO:
UB40 Featuring Ali, Astro & Mickey’s new album, A REAL LABOUR OF LOVE, reached #2 on the UK Album Chart and #1 on the Billboard Reggae Chart, with the album spending several weeks in the Top
10. The new album, the legendary reggae band’s highest chart entry since 1993’s #1 PROMISES AND LIES, was Radio 2’s Album Of The Week and received 4-star reviews in the Daily Mail and Daily Star who said it “crackles with the energy of their classics.”
The next single to be taken from A REAL LABOUR OF LOVE was ‘How Could I Leave’, released in April. The follow-up to their Radio 2 playlisted single ‘She Loves Me Now’,‘How Could I Leave’ is a fresh interpretation of a 1977 classic from the Crown Prince of reggae, Dennis Brown. “It's a standard because of the hook,”' says Ali. “It's a real ear-worm, a bit like Johnny Cash's Ring Of Fire.”
As founding members of Britain’s biggest reggae band UB40, singer Ali Campbell, second vocalist Astro and keyboardist Mickey Virtue topped the UK singles chart on three occasions and sold 70 million records as they took their smooth yet rootsy musical
blend to all corners of the globe. Between 1983 and 1998 UB40 produced threeLABOUR OF LOVE albums, bringing hits such as Eric Donaldson’s ‘Cherry Oh Baby’, Lord Creator’s ‘Kingston Town’ and Johnny Osbourne’s ‘Come Back Darling’ to a new, global audience. They also topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic with their reggae cover of Neil
Diamond’s ‘Red Red Wine’. Now with A REAL LABOUR OF LOVE they give us a fresh take on the legendary series of albums, putting the focus primarily on reggae tracks from the
1980s.
Recorded and mixed at Dean Street and RAK Studios, A REAL LABOUR OF LOVE was produced by Ali, whose instantly recognisable voice is augmented by the ‘sing-jay’ vocal style of Astro. The latter
takes the lead on six of the album’s 16 tracks, placing the two singers at the helm of an 11-piece band. Sadly, A REAL LABOUR OF LOVE also marks the passing of long-serving trombonist John Johnson. A former member of Simply Redwho joined forces with Ali seven years ago, John played on the album but passed away shortly after the recording. The
album is dedicated to him.
HIT NEW ALBUM ‘A REAL LABOUR OF LOVE’ AVAILABLE NOW!
Official website: http://ub40.org
ends