The Specials - Coventry Building Society Arena 11 September 2021

 

The Specials - Coventry Building Society Arena 11 September 2021.

By Pete Clemons.

I felt that there was a degree of anxiety within the crowd. After all, for many, it was their first indoor gig in a long time. It was clearly down in number on previous visits here but still decent enough.

However, normal service quickly resumed. Horace Panter, in his diary, reported a fight within the audience during the song 'Breaking Point'. Must admit to not seeing that from our vantage point. But I did notice a section of the crowd, almost on queue during Nite Klub and the line 'And the beer tastes just like piss', duly obliging by lobbing the contents of their ten pound plastic pots aimlessly into the air.

None of us are getting any younger and neither are the members of Ska revivalists The Specials. And whereas I really enjoyed the setting of the old Coventry Cathedral chosen for the bands homecoming gigs on the last tour, I also remember feeling that the actual gig was tedious and going through the motions.

Tonight at the Coventry Building Society Arena, described by Horace as 'an impersonal concrete shed with dreadful facilities' that included 'a dreadful excuse for a dressing room', was a new more laid back version of The Specials. Dare I say, a more mature performance. And the way 'Freedom Highway' and 'Rat Race' sat comfortably together, meant that the gig had my entire attention from the get go.

 It was very evident by way of a few ballads in the form of 'Get Up, Stand Up', a duet between Lynval Golding and guitarist Steve Cradock, and 'The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)', that this was a more composed presentation.

I felt that this performance lacked the edge The Specials once had, although there were brief flashes of energy from Horace Panter, yet somehow it wasn't to the detriment of the overall gig. This was a very impressive concert that still carried a bite and the venom of The Specials of old.

The songs on offer from the new album suggests that it is a more laid back affair. And it was as if the old songs were reigned in slightly so as to give the overall performance some kind of balance. Additionally, with Lynval Golding not taking up his guitar that often, the whole feel of the gig was bound to change in emphasis.

The ever joyous Terry Hall seemed to praise Coventry at one point. Additionally he mentioned that 'I have spent that much time in Coventry this year I'm thinking of buying a time share in Hillfields'.

I cant help but suspect that the new album, 'Protest Songs 1924-2012', will have more time in the charts on merit rather than simply through the power of pre-sales. That album could yet turn out to be a bit of an inspired release.

Finally and again from Horace's angle, he described the Coventry gig as 'the concert took on a life of its own and the gig was a triumph', which, seeing as this was a 'homecoming' gig was great to read.