Asheville live music best bets: UB40 and reggae, Amanda Shires, Spoon & Interpol

An outdoor night filled with reggae is set for Sept. 4 at Salvage Station, when four of the genre’s biggest hitmakers take the stage.

The Bigga Baggariddim Tour will begin at 6 p.m. and there will be plenty of recognizable songs for reggae lovers to sing along with.

Headlining the night is UB40, the English pop-reggae act who turned a Neil Diamond track into a worldwide hit. Diamond released “Red Red Wine” in 1967 as a single that reached No. 68 on the charts. UB40, though, infused the song with a bit of radio-friendly reggae and it reached No. 1 on the U.S. charts in 1988.

Other hits by the band include a version of “I Got You, Babe” with Chrissie Hynde, “(I Can’t Help) Falling in Love With You,” “The Way You Do The Things You Do,” and “Here I Am (Come and Take Me).”

Also on the bill are The Original Wailers, Big Mountain and Maxi Priest.

Guitarist Al Anderson is the only member of Bob Marley’s mid-1970s lineup in The Original Wailers. The group also include Chet Samuel (lead vocals, guitar), Omar Lopez (bass), Paapa Nyarkoh (drums) and Adrian AK Cisneros (keyboards and organ), who continue to bring the legacy of Bob Marley & The Wailers’ music to audiences.

Big Mountain, a California-based reggae act, is best known for its rendition of Peter Frampton’s “Baby, I Love Your Way,” which reached No. 6 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in 1994.

British reggae star Maxi Priest is known for songs such as “Wild World” and “Close to You,” which hit No. 1 in the United States in 1990 and went gold. “Wild World” was a top 25 in the United States and went into the top five on other countries' charts, including a height of No. 3 in Norway.

Amanda Shires plays The Grey Eagle

Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and virtuoso violinist Amanda Shires will perform at 8 p.m. Sept. 6 at The Grey Eagle.

Shires recently released her album, “Take It Like A Man,” on ATO Records. The album was recorded during the pandemic and features her husband, Jason Isbell, on several songs along with guest vocals by Maren Morris and Brittney Spencer.

Shires is a member of Isbell’s 400 Unit and toured with supergroup The Highwomen in 2019.

Food news: Cookbook dinner with James Beard chefs, new hot sauce, freebies and deals

'Not a typical diner': Tastee Diner reopening in West Asheville with new eclectic menu

Spoon, Interpol play Rabbit Rabbit

Two bands that are considered post punk revival will bring plenty of guitar riffs and heavy drums to Rabbit Rabbit.

Spoon and Interpol will perform at the outdoor venue at 6 p.m. Sept. 3.

Austin-based Spoon has been a critical and commercial success in recent years. The group’s albums “Transference” (2010) and “They Want My Soul” (2014) each peaked at No. 4 on the U.S. album chart. Spoon released “Lucifer on the Sofa” earlier this year, and it was described by Rolling Stone magazine as “their best record ever.”

Interpol, which began in 1997 in Manhattan, released “The Other Side of Make-Believe” earlier this year. The group now consists of founding members Paul Banks (lead vocals, guitar, bass) and Daniel Kessler (lead guitar, piano, keyboards) and drummer Sam Fogarino, who joined the band in 2000.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville live music: UB40, reggae, Amanda Shires, Spoon & Interpol