Following their sold-out UK tour of 2014, reggae stars UB40 have announced an 18-date UK tour for May 2015.
The Brummie legends are currently in the middle of the second leg of their Getting Over The Storm UK Tour, which has seen the UK’s most successful reggae band play more than 40 UK shows to more than 100,000 fans. Now they are set to play the Isle of Wight’s Ventnor Winter Gardens on Tuesday, May 19.
The new dates continue the band’s preference to avoid arena venues in the UK. Founding member and principal songwriter Brian Travers said: “The success of this year’s tour has confirmed what we already knew, that it’s better to play to 100,000 people across 40 intimate venues across the whole of the country than playing to the same number of people at six enormous domes in the same cities.”
Naming themselves after the unemployment benefit form, UB40 formed in 1978, before releasing their debut album Signing Off in August 1980 – considered by many to be one of the greatest reggae albums ever released by a British band.
It was the start of a career that has since seen the band have more than 40 UK top 40 hit singles and sell more than 100 million records, making UB40 one of the most successful British groups of all time.
The band’s latest top 30 album Getting Over The Storm was awarded BBC Radio 2’s Album Of The Week accolade and received five-star reviews from the UK’s music press on its release in September 2013.
Tickets for all the dates, including the Ventnor Winter Gardens gig, are on sale and available from ub40.co.uk.
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