UB40’s Ali Campbell is upbeat about his three-city India tour this October

Ali Campbell who split from his band is now called UB40 Feat. Ali Campbell, and is set to tour India this October. He grew up with Indian and West Indies friends, loves Mother India and Rafi's songs. He promises to play the popular covers 'Red Red Wine', 'Falling in Love' and 'Kingston Town’‘ on his tour. Tickets on sale at www.Insider.in, range from ₹2,300 to ₹19,900.

Talking to an icon whose music played non-stop on your Walkman in your younger days is surreal. Ali Campbell, the lead singer of the legendary British reggae band UB40, is gracious and warm as he speaks over a Zoom call from Birmingham, UK. “I want to come back to India in 2024 on the world tour; this three-city concert tour is just a taster,” states Ali about his forthcoming The Goldies’ India Tour, Initiated by ASSET in October this year.

The band will kick off its India tour in New Delhi on October 25, 2023, followed by a gig on October 27 in Mumbai and Bengaluru on October 28.

On commenting that Birmingham is a mini India, Ali breaks into a euphoric oh nachale oh nachale and points out he grew up with Indian and West Indies friends. He says Mother India is his favourite movie and that he loves listening to Mohammed Rafi’s songs from Pyaasa.

The legendary band, whose ‘Red Red Wine’, ‘Falling in Love’, ‘Kingston Town’ and other covers that formed the part of a mandatory playlist of music lovers across the world, performed together for 29 years till Ali Campbell, the frontman, left the group in 2008.

Ali elucidates on what has come to be known as a historical feud and puts speculations to rest: “I made my first solo album in 1994 and never promoted it. So, when I made my second album, Running Free, it rose to Number 9 on the charts, and I wanted to take a month off to promote it and then come back, but the rest of the band didn’t want me to; they did not support, which is why I left. That’s the main reason.”

Terence Wilson, aka Astro, the co-founder of UB40 who joined hands with Ali, passed away in 2021, and their album Unprecedented was released in 2022. “The album climbed to number three on the charts, and since it was the last album that Astro was on, we did a tribute tour where we played many of the tracks from Unprecedented. “

However, he promises to perform the band’s popular hits for the India tour. “We are not self-indulgent. We had so many hits; people get disappointed if we don’t play them. So we try to do as many hits as possible in the available time.”