UB40 storm homecoming Birmingham gig at Genting Arena - review

If you’re like me and grew up listening to reggae – well, dancehall-style reggae – it would've been the first genre of music you fell in love with.

And once you realised the band was from your home city too, there was no going back. Fast-forward 20 years and suddenly, right in front of my eyes, UB40 were playing live.

Still banging out the songs – albeit with a slightly different line-up – it was great to see the one of the pioneers do what they do best.

Now, Duncan Campbell cannot sing like his brother, Ali, who has gone on to form his own version of UB40, but who can?

And with Brian Travers centre stage – who for me was the star performer – the fans were still happy to lap up the current group’s repertoire of quality songs.

They went for The Train Is Coming early on, just to get the crowd dancing, before hitting Come Back Darling.

Robin Campbell gave a big shout out to the crowd and declared it was ‘great to be back’ as he described the NEC crowd as one big, happy family. The love was reciprocated.

Then one of the all-time classics, Cherry Oh Baby, got everyone back in the grove as Robin made sure the audience waved their hands in time to beat.

It was back to the reggae basics soon after with a head-popping, foot-stomping rendition of Midnight Rider.

It gave everyone a chance to catch their breath while Travers again owned the stage with his sweet sounding saxophone.

But just when the fans thought it was okay to take break, in came the drums, more of that saxophone and straight into the funky Sing Our Own Song – possibly one of the best songs of the evening.

They then announced the next song was for the hardcore fans as they blasted out Love Is All, Is All Right, which was originally penned as a protest song against the likes of National Front back in the 1980s.

Soon it was time to slow everything down again, ready for a bit of Sweet Sensation. The mellow guitar, drums and lyrics reminding you why you first fell in love with the band, who released their first song back in January 1980.

What the night even better was Robin temporarily taking over as frontman as a beam of light shone down and singled him out from the rest of the band.

A sublime tribute to the late, great Robert Palmer followed with a beautiful rendition of I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight.

Then, from nowhere, the horn section jumped up again and everyone was treated to Here I Am (Come And Take Me).

By now, a few of crowd had noticed none of the classics had been played – but it wasn’t long until the opening riff to Red Red Wine got everyone dancing once again. We were even treated to Norman Hassan filling in for ex-band member Astro.

The group exited the stage but the crowd was ready for an encore – and Don’t Break My Heart was a lovely, mellow way to welcome them back.

There was still time left was for Travers to announce to the crowd ‘there’s no place like home’ before, with his arms outstretched, he introduced Kingston Town.

Following that up with their last UK number, a fantastic cover of (I Can’t Help) Falling in Love You – arguably better than the Elvis original – it was superb way to end the evening.

It was great to one Birmingham’s finest show they could still bring the house down. And long may it continue.