Boost for Open Air Theatre as Tickets Released for UB40 and Keane

The 2021 Season at Scarborough's Open Air Theatre is shaping up as tickets go on sale for two more headline acts.

British reggae legends UB40 featuring Ali Campbell and Astro are returning to Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Saturday June 19 next year and Keane – one of Britain’s most successful and beloved bands of the last 20 years, will play the open air venue on Friday July 9th.

Tickets for both concerts go on general sale at 9am on Friday (October 23rd) from the Scarborough Open Air Theatre website

UB40 are one of the UK’s most beloved music institutions, achieving three UK Number Ones – Red, Red Wine, I Got You Babe (ft. Chrissie Hynde) and I Can’t Help Falling In Love with You – not to mention 17 Top 10 singles.

Since reuniting six years ago, founding members Ali and Astro – backed on stage by a fantastic seven-piece reggae band – have become a formidable touring outfit. They played a sensational show at Scarborough OAT in 2017 and their 2019 ‘The Real Labour of Love’ tour visited Australia, New Zealand, Europe and America.

Ali and Astro have been active during this year’s enforced hiatus. As well as writing songs for their forthcoming album, they reassembled their touring band remotely to record a lockdown single, a poignant cover of the late Bill Withers’ Lean On Me, in aid of NHS Charities Together.

They are now looking forward to getting back on the road in 2021 with a band comprising bassist Colin McNeish, guitarist Winston Delandro, keyboardist Michael Martin, drummer Paul Slowly, backing singer Matt Hoy and a brass section of trumpeter Colin Graham and saxophonist Winston Rose.

And while a handful of songs from the forthcoming album will feature alongside classic UB40 hits, Ali is keen to include older numbers such as King (about the legacy of American Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King) and One In Ten (about unemployment in the UK) that are, unfortunately, as timely today as when they were first sung in 1980 and 1981.

Ali said:

“We wrote King 40 years ago, but it’s still representative of what’s happening in America. It’s depressing that nothing has changed.

“It’s the same with One In Ten in the UK. With the impact the coronavirus could have on jobs, we could soon be looking at unemployment figures on a par with the early Eighties. Those songs will feature in a show we’ve been honing for the past 12 years.

“We’ll always play the classics, like Red Red Wine and (I Can’t Help) Falling In Love With You, but we like to change the beginning and end of the show. We’ll play Lean On Me and maybe add three or four new songs. The band members are all fantastic musicians and we’ve climbed back up to the biggest venues in the past 12 years.”

Keane have sold 13 million records worldwide, released four Number One studio albums, won two BRIT awards and an Ivor Novello award.

The East Sussex chart-toppers delighted their legions of devoted fans by returning from a six-year hiatus in 2019 with new album Cause and Effect. They had been scheduled to play Scarborough OAT this summer only for the show to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Keane’s 2004 debut album Hopes and Fears, which gave the world such timeless classics as Somewhere Only We Know, Everybody's Changing, This Is The Last Time and Bedshaped, is ranked among the UK’s 40 best-selling albums of all time.

Their return Cause and Effect – which includes the singles The Way I Feel, Love Too Much and Stupid Things – was produced by David Kosten and Keane themselves, and is the sound of a band rejuvenated.

Venue programmer Peter Taylor said:

“Keane were obviously going to be one of the major highlights of our 2020 season and so we are delighted to have arranged for them to play a headline show here in 2021.

“They are an incredible live band. Their songs are beautiful, anthemic, the soundtrack to many people’s lives over the last 20 years, and I’m sure their army of fans cannot wait to see these songs played live here.”

The 2021 line up for the Open Air Theatre now consists of five events with more to be announced.

SCARBOROUGH OPEN AIR THEATRE 2021
June 19          UB40 ft Ali Campbell and Astro
June 20          Ru Paul’s Drag Race: Werq The World
July 9              Keane
July 10            Olly Murs
August 20      Nile Rodgers & CHIC