Exciting news for kiwis and UB40 fans: the first ever Raggamuffin festival, scheduled for February 2, 2008 will include reggae superstars UB40 and 8 other local and international bands.

The 10-hour Raggamuffin Festival will be held at the International Stadium in Rotorua, New Zealand. It looks like the festival will be followed by additional shows in Australia and New Zealand.

UB40 be joined by:

• The Wailers (Bob Marley's band)
• Maxi Priest
• Arrested Development
• The Black Seeds from Wellington, NZ
• Katchafire , New Zealand's premier reggae band
• The Midnights , rising New Zealand reggae stars
• House of Shem from Aotearoa, NZ

Event Venues general manager Peter McLeod summed up the bands by declaring that "we think we 've got a damn good line-up, we 're certainly going to blow it out of the water." In addition to the artistes, Rotorua International Stadium has been described as one of the top outdoor event venues in New Zealand.

Thousands of fans from all over New Zealand and the world are expected to attend the event. Rotorua was chosen to host the Raggamuffin reggae festival due to its central location and capacity for large audiences. At least 20,000 reggae fans are expected to attend Raggamuffin.

UB40 are truly a voice for reggae worldwide. They've sold over 70 million albums worldwide. Some new outlets are calling them "the world's most popular reggae band." Their 51 hit singles beat out any other British band or musician (apart from Status Quo) including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and U2.

Their best-known songs include One In Ten, Many Rivers To Cross, Cherry Oh Baby, I Got You Babe, Don 't Break My Heart, Rat In Mi Kitchen, Kingston Town, Red Red Wine and their last album Who You Fighting For was nominated for a Grammy as 2006 's Best Reggae Album.

Tickets for Raggamuffin will go on sale October 1 from New Zealand's Ticketmaster site. They'll sell for will cost $95 until Christmas, then for $109. www.ticketmaster.co.nz , ph 0800 111 999. (Gate sales will be more expensive.)

Rotorua District Council events manager Emily Pritchard said they're "expecting demand for tickets to be very high… anyone who has any interest at all in reggae, soul, dub, hip hop or funk will be beating a path to Rotorua International Stadium on February 2."