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May 23, 2008
We got The Beat
I have had the pleasure of attending several concerts at the Fairfield Theatre Company, which is good as it gets for live music venues in the region. But I have never seen as much life pumped into the building as Thursday night’s show by The English Beat.
The sold-out show even had people waiting outside, looking for scalpers that weren’t there. I had never seen that before at FTC.
So, the seats were full, the standing-room-only section was full and The English Beat was on stage, working up a sweat playing its high-energy ska music. It was only natural that the crowd couldn’t sit and watch this concert as it would any other show.
Before long, almost everybody was on their feet, bopping to The Beat, and the area in front of the stage was taken over by fans who needed the extra room to dance the night away.
The English Beat, which is basically founding member Dave Wakeling and a group of incredible musicians, sounded fantastic. I have a greatest-hits record of the band and it doesn’t come close to capturing how much fun this band is to watch on stage.
The group’s hit songs — most notably “Save it for Later” and “Mirror in the Bathroom” — were each injected with new life. The tune “Can’t Get Used to Losing You,” on record a bit of a bore, was actually a highlight in the concert.
As if there wasn’t enough excitement attached to this show, The English Beat had a special guest in its band — make that a Specials guest.
Lynval Golding of The Specials, a singer and rhythm guitarist, took the lead on a few songs from his band. In fact, in a bit of a strange move, the show started with The Specials’ “A Message to You, Rudy.”
Reportedly, The Specials will reunite for tour later this year. Let’s hope the powers that be over at FTC can snag the band for a show there and try to recapture some of Thursday night’s magic.
Posted by Sean on May 23, 2008 6:53 PM
