CityLife

Reformed Specials add second date

IN THEIR POMP: The Specials

THE reunions billed for 2009 keep on coming it would seem. After news that Rod Stewart and Ray Davies are hoping to take revered rock ‘n’ rollers The Faces and The Kinks back on the road, another iconic British outfit have also confirmed plans to tour.

Ardwick will be anything but a Ghost Town next May, as ska forefathers The Specials have confirmed a reunion date at the Apollo.

After years of speculation the veteran Coventry collective have decided to hit the road for the first time in 28 years for an eight-date tour.

Led by diminutive frontman Terry Hall, the original septet burst out of the West Midlands city in the late 1970s in fitted suits and pork pie hats - their melding of punk and ska leading to the creation of the 2-tone sound that is still today held up as an influence by a host of bands today (Blur, Kaiser Chiefs, The Enemy).

Too Much Too Young

Over two studio albums, the seven-piece scored eight top ten singles, including two number ones for the ‘Too Much Too Young’ live EP and the era-defining ‘Ghost Town’.

The band were rightly regarded as being emblematic of the times, their songs dealing with the confusion of a country in industrial decline whilst struggling to come to terms with multi-culturalism and a new creed which became known as Thatcherism.

As riots blazed in Brixton and Toxeth, their eerily prescient chart-topper Ghost Train captured the mood of a disheartened national perfectly.

Original members of the band including Hall, Neville Staple, Sir Horace Gentleman, Roddy Radiation, Lynval Golding and John Bradbury are all confirmed to play the gigs.

Hall revealed that Specials founder member Jerry Dammers is not set to join the band on the tour, although Hall did say: "The door remains open to him."

The Specials play the Apollo on Sunday, May 3 and Monday, May 4. £32.50. Call 08444 777 677.