Welcome back! And what better way than with a packed Brighton Centre and The Specials belting out classic after classic – ‘Do Nothing’, ‘Do The Dog’, ‘Ghost Town’, ‘Message To You Rudy’, ‘Too Much Too Young’… songs of a generation beaten down by Thatcherite Britain.
Growing up in an Essex new town, similar in many respects to the concrete jungles of the West Midlands, 2 tone struck a chord and listening to The Specials, The Beat and Madness at house parties was a crucial part of that late 70s, early 80s backdrop.
The seam of political agitprop and social commentary running through The Specials’ back catalogue is like the letters running through a stick of Brighton rock, sold a stone’s throw from the venue. And it continues with the current iteration of the group – Terry Hall, Lynval Golding and Horace Panter – and with covers of songs like ‘Freedom Highway’, ‘Fuck All The Perfect People’ and ‘Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around’.
These new tracks were previewed from the album ‘Protest Songs 1924-2012’, released Oct 1st. Terry Hall’s voice has added maturity and depth and his lugubrious put-downs never fail to amuse – commenting on audience attire, he quipped: “Primark was obviously busy this afternoon”.
With a cover of Peter Tosh’s ‘Get Up, Stand Up’ and toasting on ‘Man At C&A’, Lynval Golding added special flavour to the evening. Having his son Stanley in the line-up on rhythm guitar was a nice touch.
Horace Panter on bass drove the ska beats from start to finish and periodically joined Hall and Golding centre stage for some memorable photographic cameos. Replacing Jerry Dammers on the keyboards was never going to be an easy task but Nikolaj Larsen did admirably. Likewise, Tim Smart on trombone made a decent stab as stand-in for the legendary, Rico Rodriguez and Hannah Hu did nicely in the shoes of the wonderful, Rhoda Dakar.
A night to remember… “Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think. Enjoy yourself while you’re still in the pink…” reverberating from departing crowds spilling out onto a warm summer’s, King’s Road.
The Specials, The Brighton Centre, Saturday 4th September 2021
Words by Jan Goodey
