UB40 drummer reacts to King Charles’s coronation & how Birmingham’s changed over the years

This summer, Birmingham reggae heroes UB40 will be playing a huge homecoming show in the city neighbourhood where the band members met.

The group are hosting a very special outdoor show in Moseley Park and Pool with a host of special guests. The concert is aptly named The Homecoming - as its where their journey began, with band members attending Moseley School of Art and rehearsing in a cellar in Trafalgar Road, where Earl Falconer (bass/vocals) and saxophonist Brian Travers lived.

The Red Red Wine hit-makers also performed at the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in the summer, and the Moseley show will top off of a brilliant couple of years for the Reggae masters.

We spoke to the band’s drummer Jimmy Brown to discuss the band’s legacy and their new album and also got chatting about Birmingham today and King Charles’s upcoming coronation.

The Homecoming show

UB40 are the world’s biggest reggae band. Scoring over 50 UK hit singles, including three number ones, they’ve also topped the US charts twice, and headlined countless major festivals across multiple continents.

Jimmy, now 65, says The Homecoming has been in the works for some time, but 2023 felt like the right time to hold the concert as it is the band’s 45th year.

Speaking to BirminghamWorld, Jimmy said: “It’s been an ambition of the band for some time, and Moseley Festivals have been really successful and have been going on for decades.

“And, of course, the band formed in Moseley - we’d be smoking weed in the trees at the park when we were younger, so we’re playing on our home turf and we’re really looking forward to it.”

Joining the globetrotting superstars at the gig are British soul/R&B pioneers Soul II Soul, Manchester’s The Mouse Outfit, DJ Don Letts,and Caribbean ensemble Freetown Collective.

Also on the bill are Birmingham’s own Friendly Fire Band and Young Culture Band, who both demonstrate reggae’s continued importance to the city, and the enduring influence of UB40.

“This is the first time we’ve been able to get our ducks in a row and we’ve got some great guests lined up,” says Jimmy. “We’re also doing a Q&A with Adil Ray and there will be some great street food as well.”

UB40’s song Champion was the official anthem of the Commonwealth Games in the summer. And refecting on the band’s performance at the closing ceremony, Jimmy says it made him proud to be from the city.

“We really enjoyed representing Birmingham and we’re all still proud of the city, we all still live in Birmingham or just on the outskirts.

“The city informs everything that we do, it’s a multicultural and multiracial city and that’s why the band exists. If we weren’t born in Birmingham there wouldn’t be a UB40 - we love celebrating the city - it’s a real privilege to be born and brought up in a multicultural melting pot which is what it was back in the 60s.”

‘I don’t think we should have a King and Queen in England’

Touching on how the city has changed over the years, Jimmy said: “It’s much bigger than when we were younger. There was a time when it was a big village and there weren’t that many places to go, it was a culinary desert apart from good Asian food. Birmingham has become more of a cosmopolitan city now and I think that’s great.”

But one thing he doesn’t think is particularly great is the monarchy. When discussing the Commonwealth: the 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire, he expresses some discontent.

“The Commonwealth Games was an incredibly complex thing to organise. You have a billion people watching you on television and also that massive crowd there in the arena - although we’re used to playing in front of big audiences, it was great to be involved in something like that. Not that i’m celebrateing the British Empire in any way - we’re known for not being great lovers of that.

“I’m celebrating competition and diversity, which I think was the reason we were there. There probably won’t be another Commonwealth Games quite like the one we saw in Birmingham last year, which is, in some ways, a sign of people taking control of their own lives rather than being part of an empire, which I totally agree with.”

King Charles’ Coronation is set to take place on 6 May 2023. Jimmy said: “I don’t see why the King should be head of state of any other country than our own, and I don’t even think we should have a King and Queen in England.”

New album planned

The band are currently busy preparing for the Moseley concert and they’re also working on new music in Coventry. “We’re working on a new album right now which is called UB40 45 because we’ve been in the business for 45 years,” Jimmy says.

“I constantly pinch myself that we have lasted as long as we have, even with the ups and downs we’ve been through - you know it’s incredible we’re still here doing it. So we’ll release an album this year to celebrate which will include a remix of some of our older tunes and some new material as well.”

How do I get tickets to see UB40: The Homecoming?

UB40: The Homecoming is on Sunday 27 August 2023 at Moseley Park and Pool, Moseley, Birmingham. Presale begins Tuesday 7 March 2023, 10am (sign up via the link below to gain early access); General Sale, Friday 10 March. Tickets £50 (adult) with a VIP ticket, which includes limited edition goodies and much more, available for £125 (booking fees apply).

For tickets and more information, see: UB40: The Homecoming