Line-up

Venue

O2 Academy Liverpool

11-13 Hotham St, L3 5UF, Liverpool, UK

www.liverpool-academy.co.uk/

Capacity: 1,200

View upcoming concerts

Additional details

Tour name: Dance Crazed Too

Doors open: 19:00

Concert in your area for Rock, Pop, and Reggae.

Find out more about Rock and Pop.

The English Beat biography

The English Beat, known as The British Beat in Australia and simply The Beat elsewhere, are a British ska revival band formed in Birmingham, England in 1978.

The original lineup of The Beat were together for just five years, splitting in 1984 after meeting with both critical and commercial success with their blend of ska, reggae and 2 tone. In that time, they toured with some of the biggest musical names on the planet, including R.E.M., The Specials, David Bowie, Talking Heads, The Clash and The Police. Since the breakup, they’ve performed together just once - in 2003 at London’s Royal Festival Hall. VH1’s Bands Reunited television show tried, unsuccessfully, to make the reunion a permanently going concern, but instead, the two singers from the original band - Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger - have fronted their own versions of the group.

Wakeling is the singer in The English Beat, who have continued to tour and record. They contributed a couple of brand new songs to a Scooby-Doo cartoon in 2013, and announced plans in 2014 for a new album the following year, set to be titled For Crying Out Loud. It is set to be paid for via crowdfunding - in particular, PledgeMusic - and will be their first proper release since summer 2012, when they dropped a box set titled The Complete Beat. Rhythm Epkins, Matt Morrish, Kevin Lum and Larry Young round out the current lineup of The English Beat.

The Selecter biography

2 Tone Ska band, The Selecter, formed in Coventry, England in 1979, made big waves in the UK’s ska revival of the late 70s/80s, noted for their impressive vocals courtesy of Pauline Black.

The beginnings of The Selecter arose in 1977, when Neol Davies, John Bradbury and Barry Jones recorded what would become “Kingston Affair” whilst in session. They then decided to form a band, becoming “The Selecter,” with this first track being featured on the b-side to the Specials’ single “Gangsters.” Neol Davies (guitar) then recruited Desmond Brown (hammond organ), Charley Anderson (bass), Compton Amanor (guitar), Arthur ‘Gaps’ Hendrickson (vocals), Charley ‘H’ Bembridge (drums) and finally vocalist Pauline Black, completing the lineup in 1979.

The band went straight into the studio, recording and releasing a string of singles, “On My Radio,” “Three Minute Hero” and “Missing Words’ before the end of the year. Their debut album, “Too Much Pressure” was released in February 1980, by 2 Tone Records and Chrysalis Records. The album was a success, peaking at number five in the UK charts. Their second release, “Celebrate the Bullet,” came out a year later. However it did not achieve the same success and the band crumbled apart.

The band split in 1982, with Black pursuing a career in theatre, TV and film as well as music. However, this was not to be the end of The Selector, as Davies and Black reunited in 1991, continuing to tour and perform live, supporting No Doubt on their North American tour in 1997. Throughout the 90s and 2000s, varying lineups under the guise of The Selecter released albums intermittently, led by front woman Pauline Black. In 2010, Black and Hendrickson again played under the name of The Selecter, celebrating the 30th anniversary of their debut album. In celebration, they performed the whole album in its entirety. In 2014, The Selecter was again mobilized for a show at the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Subsequently, they embarked on an extensive tour of the UK, Europe, New Zealand and Australia.

Live reviews

Simply put, to see The English Beat live is to experience profound happiness from the top of your pork pie hat to the tips of your checkered shoes!

From the moment Dave Wakeling and the rest of this legendary 2 Tone ska band take the stage, the dancing (“skanking!”) begins. Songs like “Save it for Later” are well-known classics but you may be surprised at just how many of their upbeat, saxophone-infused songs you’ll recognize.

Playing at smaller venues, Dave engages the audience between songs with funny stories of life in his hometown of Birmingham, England, and other witty commentary. They usually play a long set – upwards of two hours. And afterwards it’s not unusual for Dave and the band to shake hands & pose for pictures with their fans that crowd the front of the stage.

My love affair with The English Beat began in 1980 when they first toured the U.S. I went to see headliner, The Pretenders, but left the concert completely in love with the opening act, The English Beat. And you’ll fall in love, too, when you see them.

Report

nmorlock

Birmingham was always known during the 80s for having an influx of ska and reggae artists including UB40, The Specials and Madness all breaking out from the scene. A little further north in the city of Coventry, The Selecter were crafting their own brand of two-tone ska which included a huge amount of instrumentalists and musicians.

Headed up by Pauline Black, the band has gone through a number of lineups and session musicians and even a couple of hiatuses yet fortunately for the fans everything seems relatively calm at the moment. Much to their delight, everybody onstage is solely focused on the great music and recreate it to a brilliant standard. You imagine you could record one of these performances and release it straight on vinyl and very few people would notice it had not been mixed and mastered. The good vibes continue as the group runs through 80s favourites including 'The Whisper' and 'On the Radio' before a crescendo in the form of 'Too Much Pressure' ends the night perfectly.

Report