UB40’s Ali Campbell takes centre-stage at Għaxaq Music Festival

UB40 will be taking centre stage during this year’s edition of the Għaxaq Music Festival at the Għaxaq Grounds.

But this two-day festival features an artistic line-up of local and foreign talent that will provide festival-goers with a good opportunity to binge out on some good music.

The party kicks off on 22 July, with the spotlight on Maltese music.

The opening act will be Kantera with the hauntingly nostalgic “Tkun ‘l Hawn Għaddi”. Their eclectic folk music is the perfect complement to this festival so proud of its village core historic roots with their astonishingly multi-varied sound.

The Travellers will be the main performers with their heartfelt, unashamedly romantic repertoire.

The show on 23 July opens with ManaTapu’s multicultural sound as energy fuses into the supernatural and is re-born. ManaTapu promises the magic of collective coming together in one unique summer ritual.

Spell-binding icons UB40 will take centre stage with their full repertoire of musical gems. The world-famous legends will lead the crowd to new hedonistic heights with their sublime Raggae and Rock rhythms as the honey-glazed voice of Ali Campbell and his band is sure to deliver the thrill of love, joy and fraternity in the name of music.

This will be the first-ever appearance on our islands of this iconic, multi-racial reggae group which helped define reggae music for a whole generation. The group features Ali Campbell, the legendary voice of UB40.

This concert is also a memorial to Astro, who passed away in November 2021, and it is planned as a celebration of Astro’s music who together with Ali forged the original UB40, a group which took the world by storm captivating audiences everywhere they went.

With Ali Campbell can audiences get to experience the closest thing to the sound of the hugely successful original line-up of UB40 as all the hits play from their three earth-shaking albums. In the line-up are also songs from ‘Unprecedented’, the fourth and last Ali and Astro album recorded together. ‘Unprecedented’ is fueled by the roots-rocking spirit that powered UB40’s original incarnation. It is an album that injects a little reggae sunshine into even the darkest of days.

UB40’s roots dug deep into the reggae and rock steady rhythms of yesteryear and the band ended up producing three labour of love albums, which include pure classics such as Kingston Town, Cherry Oh Baby and the chart-topper on both sides of the Atlantic with their reggae cover of Neil Diamond’s Red Red Wine.

The concert promises to be yet another extraordinary festive night of music just like 2019’s unforgettable Smokey’s concert. The organisers say the aim once again is to recreate an unequivocal feverish festa feeling.

Tickets are available from www.showshappening.com. All proceeds will go to Embrace Diversity Organization, a voluntary organisation for children and youths with disabilities. The Għaxaq Music Festival is under the patronage of the Arts Council Malta.