Legendary reggae band UB40 brings tour, iconic song to Tucson

When they recorded “Red Red Wine” in 1983, the British reggae-pop band UB40 had no idea where it would take them.

How about the top of the British charts and, a few years later, atop the American charts — the first time a reggae band landed at No. 1 on the Billboard pop charts.

Forty-plus years later, the song is the centerpiece of the band’s 2024 North American tour, which pulls into the AVA at Casino del Sol on Sunday, Aug. 4.

Talk about a song’s enduring legacy.

“It is one of those tunes you know that has got this thing about it. I can’t explain it,” founding bass player Earl Falconer said during an interview last week from a concert stop in Washington State. “It’s one of those things when people hear it they start smiling.”

UB40’s “Red Red Wine Tour” celebrates the band’s months-old album “UB45,” marking its 45th year together. The album has seven new songs and seven re-releases including “Red Red Wine” and their first single, “King b/w Food for Thought” that went to No. 5 on the British charts.

UB40 was the second reggae band to cover Neil Diamond’s “Red Red Wine,” which the American pop singer penned in 1967. The following year, reggae artist Tony Tribe released his version, which Falconer said was the only one his band had ever heard.

“That was why ‘Red Red Wine’ was one of the ones we decided to cover,” he said.

But no one in the band had any idea that it would become their signature hit.

The multiracial members of UB40, who had trouble keeping jobs in their native Birmingham back in the early 1980s, were looking for a way to get off the dole. Falconer said he and his bandmates, taking their name from the UK Department of Employment’s Unemployment Benefits Form 40 program, spent a year learning their instruments before releasing their first single.

They started doing small gigs around London and at one of those shows, they bumped into Chrissy Hynde of the Pretenders, Falconer recalled.

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“She said, ‘Oh, I love you guys,’ and then she took us on her tour,” he said. “Obviously she was the biggest thing in the world at that time with the Pretenders.”

“Once we got started it was like non-stop and whirlwind,” Falconer added. “We are very lucky that people still come to see us.”

Fast-forward 45 years, and the band is still regarded as one of the world’s most successful reggae acts.

“It’s gone by so quick. When we first started we were all baby-faced,” said the 67-year-old Falconer, who added, with a chuckle, “Now we look a bit leathery.”

Most of the members are north of 60 except their lead singer, Matt Doyle, who joined the band in 2021; he’s 37.

Don’t expect to hear “Red Red Wine” until the end of Sunday’s show, said Falconer, adding that when they play it live, the audience lights up.

“It’s always the same reaction. … People are just happy and dancing,” he said. “It’s just got this thing about it that people love. It’s infectious and we get brilliant reaction from the crowd.”

A pair of veteran Kingston, Jamaica, reggae bands — Inner Circle Band, also known as the Bad Boys of Reggae, which has been around since 1968; and the reggae-fusion band Third World, formed in 1973 — open the show at 8 p.m. at the AVA, 5655 W. Valencia Road. Get tickets ($30-$100, with VIP packages and military discounts available) through casinodelsol.com.