Australia is about to become the battleground for UB40 wars with the two opposing bands touring one after the other.
UB40 with Ali Campbell will tour Australia from 30 September. UB40 with Robin Campbell will tour Australia from 10 January 2023.
The Campbell brothers do not talk to each other. Robin Campbell told Noise11, “we haven’t seen him since he left. There is no family dynamic. I see all of my family except for him. He left Birmingham, had a new wife and started a new family. He hadn’t spoken to me or Duncan since he left even though Duncan refused to get involved unless he had Ali’s blessing which Ali gave him. I was there. He did it over the phone. He said, ‘I don’t have a problem with it. I’ve left. You do what you want’, and never spoke to him again or me as it happens. It is very strange. He had become a very strange person by that point.”
So will the real UB40 please stand up?
The fact is Ali Campbell was the one who left the band. Ali left on 24 January 2008 and the band (under Robin and original members Norman Hassan, Jimmy Brown and Earl Falconer) carried on. That is the line-up touring Australia with new lead singer Matt Doyle.
Ali formed his rival version of UB40 six years later in 2014 and recruited former members Astro and Mickey Virtue to his band. Astro left Duncan’s band to join Ali. He died in 2021. Virtue left the original band in 2008 around the same time as Ali and joined Ali’s 2014 UB40.
Robin’s UB40 features original members Norman Hassan, Jimmy Brown and Earl Falconer. Another founder Brian Travers died in 2019. Duncan Campbell retired from the band in June 2021.
UB40 the Ali Campbell versions dates are:
TOUR DATES
UB40 FEATURING ALI CAMPBELL
Presented by The Hour Group, Festco and Vandemonian Touring
Hobart – Friday, 30th September – Hobart City Hall
Sydney – Saturday, 1st October – Star Events Centre
Gold Coast – Sunday, 2nd October – Promiseland Festival (Sold Out)
Adelaide – Wednesday, 5th October – Hindley Street Music Hall
Melbourne – Friday, 7th October – Margaret Court Arena
Queensland – Saturday 8 October – Sandstone Point, Bribie Island
UB40 the Robin Campbell dates are:
45th ANNIVERSARY ‘FOR THE MANY’ TOUR
[Rescheduled Dates]
Tuesday 10 January, 2023 – Nightquarter – Sunshine Coast, QLD
Wednesday 11 January, 2023 – Eatons Hill – Brisbane, QLD
Thursday 12 January, 2023 – HOTA – Gold Coast, QLD
Saturday 14 January, 2023 – Bigtop – Sydney, NSW
Sunday 15 January, 2023 – Forum – Melbourne, VIC
Tuesday 17 January, 2023 – Riverside – Perth, WA
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