Sponsored by
REVIEW: The Specials
May 24 @ Millennium Square
They came in their thousands, a 2-Tone army, clad in black and white with the occasional trilby. Rude boys and Mods, skinheads and suedeheads and a large smattering of ska dads, revisiting the music of their youth.
Leeds United's loss in the League One play-offs had been The Specials' gain, ensuring a last-minute clamour for tickets for this gig as well as bringing some of the atmosphere of Elland Road to Millennium Square.
For their part, the men on stage - Terry Hall, Neville Staples, Lynval Golding, Horace Panter, Roddy Byers and John Bradbury - were clearly determined not to send their fans home disappointed.
The opening salvos of Do The Dog and (Dawning of a) New Era bristled with the punk energy of old while Gangsters and Rat Race induced a massed singalong.
Evoking memories of 1979, Staples dedicated a spirited cover of Toots and the Maytals' Monkey Man "to all the bouncers" and the party really got into full swing as he and rhythm guitarist Lynval Golding careered around the stage during Concrete Jungle.
Sometimes the rowdiness got in the way of the laconic humour of Terry's Hall's Friday Night and Saturday Morning and Stereotypes, but things snapped sharply back into focus with the arrival of a brass-infused, apocalyptic Man at C&A.
Lynval Golding showed the band still had a keen social conscience, introducing A Message to You Rudy with a stark "Don't vote BNP" message then it was back to pure nostalgia with a run of album tracks, including a gloriously spiky Nite Klub.
The only let-down of the night was the band's signature tune, Ghost Town, where a quickening of the song's tempo seemed at odds with its dark harmonies and bleak content.
Such diappointment was fleeting, though, as the band returned to stage for a delirious romp through Too Much Too Young, Longshot Kick de Bucket, Skinhead Moonstomp and Enjoy Yourself.
Bidding an emotional goodbye, Terry Hall declared: "Thanks very much, it's been a privilege."
By the looks on 7,000 contented faces the feeling was very much mutual.
Click here for more
Email to a friend
Print this page- Politics: Mark Hookham's Westminster blog - 5.33pm
- Castleford RSPB Fairburn Ings: High wire act Swallows’ summer parade
- Worker dies on North Yorkshire Moors Railway
- Video: Restaurant reopens on Leeds Harry Ramsden’s site after £500,000 refit
- Chocolat author will tempt guests at Leeds Big Bookend Festival
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Leeds
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: East
