Review of The Beat in Sydney
October 9th 2006 10:59
It has been a bit quiet in Sydney in terms of ska shows so I was looking forward to seeing these guys play in Sydney. The lineup was only going to have two original members – Rankin’ Roger upfront and Everett Moreton on the drums. Dave Wakeling is doing his own show of Beat songs, while Saxa is retired, but there was Rankin’ Rogers’ son up there with him and together they put on a blinding show. You can’t have everything of all the time.
So the night came along and I was lucky enough to be in one of the supporting bands. We’d been informed there were 600 pre-sold tickets to the gig and we just hoped a good deal of them got down early enough to see us. Going on at 8-30 pm, we (The Signals) were pleased to have an excellent crowd watching us – it had been a while since we played to that many people. Our set was well received and then it was time for Sydney ska stalwarts Backy Skank. Entertaining as usual, they warmed up the crowd well for The Beat.
The Beat came on about 10-45 and went straight into it. I won’t give a set list, but they played all the favourites. The crowd was dense and didn’t stop dancing for the duration – a set of close to one and a half hours. My only complaint was that many eighties skinheads, who hardly ever come out, thought it was still the eighties. It isn’t guys and if you are too settled to come out week in week out, you should be settled enough not to make a large portion of the crowd feel like they will be crushed by meatheads acting in a perceived homoerotic fashion. It was the only downside of the night though and we went home pretty pleased to see such a rare sight in Sydney.
So the night came along and I was lucky enough to be in one of the supporting bands. We’d been informed there were 600 pre-sold tickets to the gig and we just hoped a good deal of them got down early enough to see us. Going on at 8-30 pm, we (The Signals) were pleased to have an excellent crowd watching us – it had been a while since we played to that many people. Our set was well received and then it was time for Sydney ska stalwarts Backy Skank. Entertaining as usual, they warmed up the crowd well for The Beat.
The Beat came on about 10-45 and went straight into it. I won’t give a set list, but they played all the favourites. The crowd was dense and didn’t stop dancing for the duration – a set of close to one and a half hours. My only complaint was that many eighties skinheads, who hardly ever come out, thought it was still the eighties. It isn’t guys and if you are too settled to come out week in week out, you should be settled enough not to make a large portion of the crowd feel like they will be crushed by meatheads acting in a perceived homoerotic fashion. It was the only downside of the night though and we went home pretty pleased to see such a rare sight in Sydney.
| 79 |
| Vote |
Comment by Chantal
Thank you!
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Glen
Reggae