REGGAE stars UB40 play Salisbury City Hall on Sunday.

The gig is part of the second leg of their Getting Over The Storm UK Tour, which has seen the Brummie legends play over forty UK shows to over 100,000 fans.

Tickets have been in such demand that a new tour has already been announced for next May.

The dates continue the band’s preference to avoid arena venues in the UK, as founding member and principal songwriter Brian Travers explains, “The success of this year’s tour has confirmed what we already knew, that it’s better to play to 100,000 people across forty intimate venues across the whole of the country than playing to the same number of people at six enormous domes in the same cities.

It’s a much better experience for both the band and our fans, and we get to play in towns and cities we haven’t visited for many years.”

Fellow UB40 founding member and principal songwriter Jimmy Brown agrees, “The atmosphere in the venues on our current tour has been amazing.

You can feel it from the stage and it lifts the band to a different level.

You rarely get that in an arena. We’re never happier than when we are on stage; we are a working band, it’s what we do.”

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 over forty UK Top 40 hit singles and achieve sales of over 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 call 01722 434434