Last night (June 30) saw The Specials hit Melbourne as part of their 30th anniversary tour and the jam packed house was not disappointed.
The band played a greatest hits set for nearly two hours that was at time difficult to hear due to the fanatical crowd singing every word to every song in unison.Hits like ‘Monkey Man’ and ‘Little Bitch’ were highlights. With the deafening roar of the audience shouting ‘Little Bitch’’s “ONE TWO!” just adding to this already exciting band.
‘A Message To You Rudy’ came and went, and was indistinguishable from the rest in crowd reaction.
Singers Neville Staple and Terry Hall, despite being 50 years of age, were still full of energy and life and still as exciting as they were thirty years ago. (Well, close to it, anyway).
The lineup is all original members with the exception of guitarist Jerry Dammers, who in a statement last year said “that claims that 'the door is still open' to him fail to mention that Jerry has been driven out every time he has attempted to get involved over the last year. He also wonders why this appears in the newspaper when former bandmates have his phone number?”
It seems strange that Dammers wasn’t there and it would’ve been nice, but the show was still spectacular and a greatest hits set that left no one disappointed.
