UK reggae boy-band UB40 have announced they'll tour Australia in January 2023 with a show at The Forum in Melbourne.
Originally set to tour Australia in October 2020 as part of their 45th anniversary performing hits from their latest releases For The Many and Bigga Baggariddim, the reggae boy-band will tour Australia instead in January 2023 with shows planned for the Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
UB40 have also announced that their upcoming tour will include performances from House of Shem, who also feature on the band’s latest album Bigga Baggariddim.
UB40 For The Many 45th anniversary Australian tour dates
- Tuesday 10 January, 2022 – Nightquarter – Sunshine Coast, QLD
- Wednesday 11 January, 2022 – Eatons Hill – Brisbane, QLD
- Thursday 12 January, 2022 – HOTA – Gold Coast, QLD
- Saturday 14 January, 2022 – Bigtop – Sydney, NSW
- Sunday 15 January, 2022 – Forum – Melbourne, VIC
- Tuesday 17 January, 2022 – Riverside – Perth, WA
Check out Melbourne’s most comprehensive gig guide here.
Despite the many unknowns in international touring, UB40 have stayed aggressively optimistic over the past 24 months: “We always look forward to trips down under,” the band said.
“It’s one of our favourite places in the world to perform, but with so many uncertainties in the world these past two years, we felt it was far more important to focus on everyone’s safety. Now that borders have reopened, we’re finally ready to get back to Australia and perform the show fans have been waiting for.”
For those who already bought tickets to the band’s original October 2020 Australian tour, tickets will remain valid for all upcoming shows. Having previously sold out their 2015, 2017 and 2018 tours, the band return to Australia with plans for a more extensive run of dates, hitting Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast, as well as the more usual Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth.
The 45th Anniversary Tour will offer audiences a taste of the band’s hits like ‘Food for Thought’, ‘1 in 10’, ‘Red Red Wine’, ‘Kingston Town’ and ‘Can’t Help falling In Love With You’, as well as tracks from the latest releases, which will be performed live in Australia for the first time.
One of the UK biggest exports, UB40 have achieved over 40 top-40 hits in Britain with international sales of over 100 million records. After four decades of success, the band suffered the loss of founder member, lyricist and lead sax player Brian Travers, who lost his long battle with cancer in 2021.
Although the band admit “there is a giant Brian shaped hole that can never be filled”, they continue with the surviving key founding members and songwriting core. UB40 now are founder members Robin Campbell (vocals and guitar), Earl Falconer (bass, vocal), Jimmy Brown (drums) and Norman Hassan (percussion, vocals) with new lead vocalist Matt Doyle. The band also features Martin Meredith (sax) and Laurence Parry (trumpet), who have both been in UB40’s touring and recording line-up for over 20 years, as well as Tony Mullings (keyboards) and Ian Thompson (sax).
Limited tickets on sale now here.
