Arts & Culture
Stop everything! Toots and The Maytals add Oxford to their UK tour!

Toots and The Maytals, one of the all-time great reggae, ska and rocksteady groups, have added extra UK dates to their forthcoming tour.

Recently announced, Toots and The Maytals are bringing their UK tour to Oxford’s O2 Academy October 26.

The eleven-date tour will start at the O2 Institute Birmingham on WednesdayOctober 10, and end on SaturdayOctober 27 at the Cheese & Grain in Frome.

The Maytals, led by the irrepressible force of nature Frederick ‘Toots’ Hibbert, formed in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1961. The group would go on to bring the reggae sound to the masses with pioneering hits such as ‘Do The Reggay’ (widely acknowledged as the first song ever to feature the word ‘reggae’), ‘Pressure Drop’, ‘54-46 (That’s My Number)’, ‘Sweet and Dandy’, ‘Monkey Man’, ‘Funky Kingston’ and ‘Reggae Got Soul’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjg6flu3zuc

Across six decades, Toots’ raw, gospel-infused vocals and life-affirming music has influenced countless artists, including The Specials, The Clash and  Amy Winehouse, and has toured with the likes of The Rolling Stones, Dave Matthews, Sheryl Crowand Los Lonely Boys.

A five-time Grammy nominee, Toots & The Maytals won the 2005 Grammy Award for Best Reggae album with True Love. The album featured re-recorded classic hits alongside popular and legendary artists, including Willie Nelson, Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, Keith Richards, No Doubt, Ben Harper, The Roots and Shaggy.

Looking forward to his return to the UK, Toots said: “The UK is a home from home for Toots and The Maytals, so we’re looking forward to seeing all our friends during our tour. To bring joy with my music is my greatest aspiration. We give 100 percent every night, and our fans give us that energy right back every time.”

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