6. House of Blues Orlando

UB40 Orlando Venue
May 2nd 2009 Orlando listings, reviews & Florida guide. Where do I start? my usual complimentary tickets drop through the door, I open the envelope and I have to say if I'm being honest, when I saw UB40, I thought "oh well it will be old guys slowly going through the motions and probably not really wanting to be there" but hey what the heck, I gotta write a review right? Well guys how wrong was I? First the place was packed and full of youngsters too, you could not get another person in there, well perhaps a few cardboard cut outs. This band blew me away and believe me, I see a lot of concerts a year. The band was just A. From start to finish, totally. I was surprised how many songs I recognized. The music was not watered down pretend, cliché reggae; something I am seeing a lot of lately, this was fresh with interesting twists too, at times it was dubby, mesmerizing and almost kind of cinematic orchestral at times, if this is NEW reggae; I LIKE IT. The two lead front singers were crystal clear and worked brilliantly together, to my amazement, two or it may even have been three other band members came to the front to sing songs. I was kinda expecting the drummer to come down and sing too. One of the hi lights for the audience was when the percussionist with tremendous ardour and verve took to the stage to sing. He basically set the place on fire. The brass section were really cool, some brass sections can look like string puppets, these guys had characters and at times were funny, in a good way. All in all it was one of the best concerts I have seen in years, I just wish it was the last of the season; it really is going to be hard to top this one. You can see why UB40 are seasoned pros and know their field of expertise, with songs to back it all up, from love to hard poliical. As I stood alone in the middle of the House of Blues at the end. I had a feelin of "did that really just happen?". They came, played this crazy, wild and brilliant concert then left, and I'm the one who feels beat. Good luck UB40 with the rest of the tour; like you're gonna need it right? Well my next outing is Jars Of Clay, what are the chances of another night like my last? I am not hopeful, but hey let's not write anyone off before we go. I mean who would do something silly like that eh?

Great talent most of the time