Freeze a live Liverpool Anglican Cathedral Preview
Freeze A-Live Present UB40
Saturday 23rd November
@ Liverpool Anglican Cathedral
The last seven years has seen Freeze events transform the focus of what clubbing can be about. Moving the traditional place to party from clubs to disused mine tunnels, the nation’s biggest cathedral and nineteenth century music halls, they’ve reinvigorated Liverpool’s electronic music scene. And now Freeze A-Live, a new initiative set up by the masterminds behind these pioneering events, aims to do the same with live music. This winter sees them return to the city’s iconic Anglican Cathedral to host legendary band UB40 on Saturday 23rd November.
Infamously named after the dole form the group’s members signed on, UB40 were formed in the late seventies in Birmingham where their mixture of reggae, ska and soul saw them develop a fervent local following. Upon hearing the band, Pretenders’ lead singer Chrissie Hynde asked the guys to open up for them, setting the band’s rise to prominence in full motion.
Debut album ‘Signing Off’ (another reference to their unemployed past) reached number two in the album charts, becoming a signifier of the times. A political record that lashed out at Thatcher’s Britain, the rise of the National Front and the harrowing grip of unemployment the country was in, it spawned the double a-side single ‘King/Food For Thought’, the first ever to make it into the top ten without the backing of a major label (the single and album was released completely independently). The album was a wondrous distillation of British reggae that for many remains one of the true classics of the genre.
After this point UB40’s sound became more polished and they became international reggae stars, patenting a style which saw them re-imagining other people’s songs in their unique style. Among their legendary covers are Neil Diamond’s ‘Red, Red Wine’, Cher and Sonny’s ‘I Got You Babe’ (which saw them dueting with Hynde), and Elvis Presley’s ‘(I Can’t Help) Falling In Love With You’, records which would top the charts across the globe.
The group remain an irresistible live force, combining professionalism from over thirty years of performing with a very real zest for music that has never dimmed. Group member Earl Falconer even retains a hand in the dub-focused music of today’s youth as well, running legendary dubstep imprint Circus Records alongside Flux Pavilion and Doctor P. Saturday 23rd November will see Freeze A-Live host the band in the stunning setting of Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral, bringing their incendiary reggae and pop fusion to one of the most beautiful and enchanting backdrops in the UK.
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Freeze A-Live
Sat 23rd November
@ Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, St James Mount, Liverpool, Merseyside, L1 7AZ
UB40
plus support
Tickets £32.50
Tel: 07837 459784
www.ub40.co.uk
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