The Beat & The Selecter – Powerstation January 24, 2018
Two of the grandparents of ska hit our shores and delivered a blast from the past on a hot and humid evening in Auckland and reminded the enthusiastic crowd where the 2 Tone sound all started.
Both these bands, along with the Specials and Madness, all formed around the same time in the mid to late70s when punk was hitting its straps. With a bigger sound and soaring signature sax, the 2 Tone sound was also a backlash to the pomp rock and self-indulgence of the popular bands at the time. Their songs weren’t talking about dreams and hope, they reflected their own environment, and the reality of living in Birmingham.
I expected the first band to be The Selecter. Don’t ask me why, but The Beat was, for me, the band I knew in my younger years and most successful of the two commercially.
So, I was surprised to see The Beat (7 pieces in all), slowly wander on stage to set up and then joined by original lead singer Ranking Roger, and his son Ranking Junior with the sparse crowd on the floor growing quickly as they realised they were about to launch into one of the best sets I have seen for a very long time.
The first three tracks Doors of Your Heart, Too Nice Too Talk To, and Hands off She’s Mine, set the scene for the rest of the gig. Between each track Ranking Roger would interact with the crowd talk about the old days (one of my favourite topics) and lift it up a notch either on stage by his running antics with his son or getting the crowed to bounce just a little higher when needed.
He sang with passion, feeling and energy which delivered a freshness and excitement to the setlist that belies the 40 odd years since they formed.
There was an excellent sprinkling of songs from their first three albums I Just Can’t Stop The Beat, Wha’ppen, and Special Beat Service while also throwing in three tracks from their latest album Bounce, released in 2016, which included Side To Side, Avoid The Obvious, and the Clash-sounding My Dream, which all could have come off any of their earlier albums.
I have to say this now: the band were tight. I mean they were really tight! From the bass, sax, two guitars, and drums, the boys approached their work with gusto and ease, comfortably and seamlessly slipping between reggae, punk, pop, and of course ska.
When Save It For Later (one of their best) came on everything went up a notch. The crowd by this stage had danced right through two thirds of the setlist without hardly taking a break and it was nice to feel the floor once again getting a good pounding.
In a whirlwind of sweat and laughter the final songs flew by, with the incredibly charged Whine & Grime / Stand Down Margaret getting plenty of crowd backing and vocal support.
The quick-fire rifts of Mirror in the Bathroom came way too early, but what a song to finish with and the night was complete. It was their biggest hit and they maxed it out by giving the band a chance to stretch their legs so to speak and they did that in spades. Then it was over. Job done.
After a short break and curtain change, it was The Selecter’s turn to woo the crowd. The eight-piece band, with keyboards this time and two sax players, tried to pick up where The Beat left off but to be honest they didn’t really hit the mark for me. Which was a real shame.
Kicking off with the Avengers Theme, 3 Minute Hero, and Frontline, the band was good, vocal and sound all good, but they just missed a beat so to speak. The current line up included the two lead singers Pauline Black and Arthur “Gaps” Hendrickson, who did a good job on stage but the vibe was lost a little overall. Getting midway into the set my legs were giving up and after a couple more tracks I had to take a backseat. Probably more a reflection of my lack of knowledge of their songs and perhaps having The Selecter first would have helped as well.
None the less it was a great night, and I suspect there will be some sore bodies today trying to get out of bed, reminding them how much they enjoyed a peek back to their younger years.
David Boyle
Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Veronica McLaughlin:
- Challengers – Dir: Luca Guadagnino (Film Review) - April 24, 2024
- Civil War – Dir: Alex Garland (Film Review) - April 9, 2024
- Pearl Jam – Dark Matter (Monkeywrench/Republic) Album Review - April 1, 2024
January 26, 2018 @ 12:42 am
Having seen The Beat,The Specials,Special Beat,and Selecter in recent years,I ranked them as follows :
1 The Beat a clear first
2 Special Beat with Ranking Roger & Neville Staple out front.
3 The Specials
4 The Selecter.A distant fourth.I did not stay for the whole set.
I do not understand why on a double billing,Selecter would play second fiddle to the Beat.
January 27, 2018 @ 12:47 pm
I also prefer the Beat to the Selecter, but Pauline Black was awesome ! She is 64 ffs – and obviously fitter than you !! Lets get some facts straight…. Yes, The Beat came from Birmingham but the Selecter were from Coventry… which is where the whole ska sound developed from, starting with the Specials in 1977.
There were really only six Ska bands: The Specials, Madness, The Selecter, The Beat, Bad Manners and The Bodysnatchers. UB40 and The Piranhas were bands that evolved out of the nexus that they created. It was a very select and short-lived phenomena that had a huge impact in British popular culture. The Specials (devolving into The FunBoy Three) and Madness went pop, but the Beat and the Selecter have stayed true to the original sound and feel of the Ska movement; and it was fantastic to feel that energy and vitality is still going strong.
The punk movement got involved in the ‘Rock against Racism’ gigs that took place in 1978. But by the end of 1978 Punk was effectively over, degenerating into a parody of itself (eg the Sex Pistols singing with Ronnie Biggs in Brazil and Sid Vicious singing ‘My Way’ ffs Malcolm McClaren…). And Ska was definitely post punk… and the 2-Tone sound really prevailed c1979 -1982.
Of all the punk bands, The Clash were the most overtly political and of course they also had a strong inclination towards reggae sounds – and it was interesting to hear The Selecter segway into ‘Pressure Drop’ when they were playing ‘Too Much Pressure’.
Ska was also in so many ways the successor to punk in its political assertiveness – and in many ways surpassed it. The clarion call of ‘No Future’ from the Sex Pistols evolved into a desperation in the inner cities in the UK, which culminated in the race riots that took place all of the country in 1981. The backlash they were reacting to was the poverty and unemployment to be found in midlands cities (hence ‘Ghost Town’ by The Specials) and the total indifference of the Tory Government under Margaret Thatcher to the economic plight of the working class in the UK. ‘Whine & Grine’ is still one of the most politically vitirolic songs…. which is easy to underestimate if you have no idea what kind of impact that c*nt had on British Society. If you were there, the song still brings up the bile….
And that is not even to mention the urgency the 2-Tone movement had to confront the blatent and overt racism prevalent in British Culture at that time…. the very mixed-race compostition of the bands was a direct affront to that. The riots in the black areas of London, Bristol, Liverpool etc were a direct reaction to the ‘SUS’ laws that gave the police wide-ranging powers to stop under suspicion anyone they thought was committing a crime…. which, funnily enough they used primarily against black youth and applied extensively in black areas of the UK like Toxteth, St Paul’s and Brixton.
I was down at the front and ska-danced my way through both sets…. sounds to me like you lost your legs after The Beat !! Whilst I agree that they are quite different, both bands were excellent and I am amazed that the Ska sound is still live and fresh and so vital even after 40yrs. The energy and enthusiasm of the singers in both bands was just incredible.
February 19, 2018 @ 6:37 am
I was not at the gig.I do not live in Auckland & finances limit expenditure on airfares & board.
One trip to Auck per annum is it.
The bands I mention I have seen at Bluesfest where I go each easter because it is economically justifiable.
I agree with your comments re the English Ska bands.
Madness played at Bluesfest in 2017.
Never been a fan of the Clash.
I prefer the Jam.