Wednesday, August 24, 2011

The English Beat-Pershing Square,Downtown L.A. 8-20-11


Ok ...first thing to clear something up. Everyone who's into Reggae/Ska/New Wave/ let alone good music knows The Beat. But in case you didn't know, there are two different band versions of the English Beat alive and playing today. The original band had two singers originally. They ended up splitting apart, and the one with Ranking Rodger only plays in England as The Beat while the other (with Dave Wakeling) calls themselves The English Beat and play here in America. That's the one I saw.

They played in a park for free and all the rude boys, rastas, punks, and random dudes just walking by the park were excited for this old school ska show.

 It was crowded and the last of  several free concerts in the park (I missed A Flock Of Seagulls damn it!). They started and I was immediately into it, as were my punk friends. I was dancing my ass off. In fact, everybody was. The English Beat actually sounded more reggae than ska but what the heck. They played their classics from "Save It For Later", "Twist And Crawl" and the only song people knew the lyrics to,"Mirror in the Bathroom". Over all it was good free show and for seeing one of the pioneers of the Ska genre it was a must. I prefer Madness and The Specials more but that's just me.

Either way see The English Beat live if you get a chance. Maybe in a park near you... If you are new to them, try their compilation, Beat This!

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