Review: The Specials, O2 Academy Newcastle

Apr 24 2009 by Jonathan Sloan, The Journal

RETURNING after 28 years, The Specials chose the Academy to deliver an emotional and memorable evening in front of an adoring crowd of rude boys and girls.

There were enough Fred Perry shirts to keep the company in business for years as The Specials returned to live action, pumping out hit after hit to the roaring masses.

Their first album, The Specials, has been categorised as one of the greatest British discs ever made, and last night it was easy to see why.

Tricky, Paul McCartney and even The Prodigy have all paid homage to The Specials, the two-tone leaders of the pack who only now, nearly 30 years after splitting up acrimoniously, have come back to the music scene. Stories of urban decay and everyday life about their blighted Coventry up-bringing punctuated the air as lead singer Terry Hall sang with forensic detail of the moments of their youth.

First loves, first hangovers and first friends are all remembered in classics like Nite Club, It Doesn’t Make It Alright, Blank Expression and Stereotype.

The Specials’ curtain raiser, Do=2 0The Dog, started the hour and a half set on the crest of a wave and it never let up.

On Too Much Too Young he reminded his listeners of the folly of teenage pregnancy – ‘Ain’t he cute, no he ain’t, he’s just another burden on the welfare state.’

With the nation heading for mass unemployment again, never have The Specials’ lyrics sounded so relevant. The haunting Ghost Town closed their careers first time around and Hall and Co delivered it again to finish the show, complete with riveting horn section.

The band returned for one final encore, the go-for-it Enjoy Yourself. The crowd sang every word as Hall ended on ‘Enjoy yourself, while you’re still in the pink, the years go by, as quickly as you blink.’

They do indeed, but it was a whole lot of fun while it lasted.