Red Red Wine

September 17, 2019

UB40

UB40 

Kathy

Shaggy

Red Red Wine

Kathy and I made another road trip this week in our continued pursuit of trying to see as many popular bands from the 80s and 90s as possible, this time driving up to Boca Raton for a day trip to see a show by UB40 featuring original singers Ali Campbell and Astro, with opening acts Shaggy and the Green. This was the 40^th anniversary tour of UB40 and was a show that Kathy really wanted to see.

 

UB40

Shaggy

The drive to Boca is a little bit longer than the typical drive to Miami or Lauderdale that we make to attend many concerts, but it is still pretty easy and this trip was totally trouble free. Mizner Park Amphitheater is a small, intimate outdoor facility in the heart of downtown Boca Raton and the area around there is packed full of bars, restaurants and cool shopping opportunities.

UB40

We arrived in time to grab dinner at a nearby restaurant, Dubliners, an Irish pub that was packed with pre-concert attendees and had a very loud cover band playing. The food was pretty decent but the ease of getting in and out was the best part. The entire area is surrounded by free parking garages making it easy and affordable to come downtown. 

The Green

After dinner we meandered down the street to the Yard House, a chain craft beer bar for another quick drink before walking over to the amphitheater just in time for the opening act, The Green to get started. Knowing how much Kathy was looking forward to this show, I had purchased tickets in the second row center. The place looked to be sold out, but there are not that many seats really available as it is a small and intimate venue.

 

The Green opened the show with a short but solid set of reggae tunes. I was not familiar with them at all, but thought they were quite good and the crowd that was on hand seemed to really enjoy their set as well. I am going to have to look a bit deeper into their music as we both liked what we heard a lot.

Shaggy 

Shaggy was up next and having not seen him perform and really only knowing a few of his most popular songs, I must admit that I was really unprepared for how amazingly awesome his portion of the show was. The Jamaican sensation was as good an opening act as I have seen in ages and if truth be told was way better than the very good headlining act UB40. His show was energetic, buoyant and just plain fun.

Shaggy 

His best known song, “It Wasn’t Me” was one of my least favorites, but even that was pretty damn good when performed live. The seven time Grammy nominated Shaggy was just fantastic and he had a charisma, energy and enthusiasm for performing that was contagious as the crowd was going wild, standing cheering and dancing through his entire set.

Shaggy

His set was so good that I was a little worried on UB40s behalf, especially when they started off a little slow, especially in comparison to the ultra-high energy of Shaggy’s performance. But they did settle in and put on a damn fine show of their own, working the energy level upwards throughout the show which just kept getting better and better as it progressed. They played all their hits from their illustrious 40 year career including all those chart toppers from the early 90s when they reached the height of their popularity, especially here in the US.

The British reggae band has been through some internal strife and various incarnations in the recent past, but these were the original voices behind all those beloved hits and they put on a really excellent show that again had the crowd revved up dancing and singing along. I am so glad that we went and really happy that all three acts put on stellar performances.