Concert Photos: UB40 at the House of Blues

English ska/reggae outfit UB40 played the House of Blues last night in a stop on their “Relentless” tour.

While frontman/founding member Ali Campbell left the band in 2008, several original members were present, as eleven (!) musicians vied for space on the HOB main stage.

Founded in Birmingham, England in 1978, the outfit was an eclectic bunch of unemployed musicians, adopting the moniker “UB40,” as an homage to the British unemployment system; “UB” stood for “Unemployment Benefit” and “40” was for the number 40 form that people used to get unemployment compensation. Almost fifty years later these formerly-unemployed buskers did a good job in packing the GA pit with fans of all ages.

Offering a wide variety of tunes from their catalog, they pulled several from their 1983 album Labour of Love, which was the record that really put them into the public eye.

Known for covering artists and songs from American popular music, the band would put their own Ska or Reggae spin on the well-worn compositions. Starting the night with a cover of Al Green’s “Here I Am (Come and Take Me),” they eventually gave up “Many Rivers to Cross” about halfway through the set.

Of course, every legacy band is expected to play certain songs that the audience has come to expect, and they rolled out “The Way You Do the Things You Do” and “Cherry Oh Baby” towards the end of the night.

The last tune before the encore was the smash cover of Neil Diamond’s “Red Red Wine,” which was a much better ska tune that it ever was a Neil Diamond stalwart.

They encored with “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” the upbeat interpretation of Elvis’ ancient love song.