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Tuesday 15 February 2011

UB40 - MM82

I was amused by this little snippet in an old Melody Maker I have, dated January 1982.
A piece about UB40 playing in Dundee.
It says they were banned from playing in a few cities around Britain because of their political stance on the previous years riots. However, Dundee Council, considered to be the most left-wing in the country at the time, welcomed the reggae rebels to the extent that Lord Provost Gowans laid on a civic reception for them!
It mentions Liverpool as being one of the cities they were banned from, so that must have been just before Derek Hatton's Militant Tendency took control!
Anyway, what I'd like to know is, did any of you get an invite to the Dundee do?
By the way, I only put this photo of the band up because it was the one that accompanied the article in MM. Not sure if it was taken in Dundee. They are standing in front of some Space Invaders machines, so maybe they nipped along to the arcade beside the Caird Hall before they went on stage!
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8 comments:

  1. Anonymous15 February 2011 at 04:20

    i saw ub40 playing the university union 78/79. wwould the space invader machines be from there?
    i seem to remember the fall supporting them, but that might have been a different night.
    the fall were fantastic, ub40 weren't!

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  2. Anonymous15 February 2011 at 04:22

    Is this the same left-wing council who took it upon themselves to ban the Dead Kennedys from Dundee due to their sick song “Holiday in Cambodia”, which is basically mocking capitalist greed? So much for their intelligence or principles then! Idiots.

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  3. Dode15 February 2011 at 05:27

    That was a brilliant gig, the Caird Hall was rocking.
    And it was the only time I ever got a sneaky-in to a gig there :-)

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  4. Anonymous15 February 2011 at 06:29

    UB40 played The Union twice once as support to The Pretenders and then headlining themselves.The Pretenders played The Union the same week they were at No.1 in the singles and album charts with Brass in Pocket.

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  5. RETRO DUNDEE15 February 2011 at 10:29

    Do you think the Lord Provost whipped out a packet of Rizla's and rolled a 3 skinner?

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  6. Anonymous15 February 2011 at 10:33

    Support act that night at the Caird Hall were China Crisis. A great night.

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  7. Anonymous16 February 2011 at 05:15

    I recall that some of the then players from Rosebank FC (Rosebank Rastas as they styled themselves) shared a roughly rolled Rizla or two with the band backstage.

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  8. Anonymous14 April 2011 at 06:28

    When UB40 played the Uni union in 78/79 they were back up to the Pretenders, and they totally blew them off the stage, Chrissie Hynde was well pissed off!

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