The Christmas build-up wouldn’t be complete without some 1980s Ska-tastic classics to heat up the dank, dark December nights.
So with a discography that read like the ultimate playlist from a This Is England school disco, The Beat tore through a set which featured skank-a-long classics such as Can’t Get Used To Losing You, Hands Off She’s Mine and Bump And Grind.
In spite of their 1980s credentials, there’s nothing dated about The Beat. On the contrary, the brilliant inclusion of vocally-talented Rankin Junior effortlessly updated both the sound and look of the band.
Looking like a pin-up campaign for positive male role-modelling, the father and son duo sang their way through stunning harmonies while issuing messages about positive integration of race, generation and culture.
The Beat are everything; energetic, entertaining, intelligent but more essentially they are fabulous musicians playing utterly brilliant, timeless dance-floor gold.
As the set crescendoed into the extended live-mix of Mirror In The Bathroom, the whole room erupted with rude-boy glee (with no apologies for the oxymoron).
“Is everybody happy?”, called Rankin Roger... but he knew the answer. As long as they kept playing, everybody most certainly was.
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