The Beat have had many incarnations since they burst onto the scene in 1978 with their infectious ska version of Smokey Robinson’s Tears Of A Clown.

Their current lineup is very much a family affair. The 2 tone legend that is Ranking Roger now has his son, Matthew Murphy (Ranking Junior) alongside him on vocals, while his daughter Saffren also joined the stage for a couple of tracks.

The Beat may have lost their original line up but they’ve lost none of the energy and vitality that made their debut album I Just Can’t Stop It such a seminal piece of work.

The audience at the Concorde 2 were treated to all the favourites: Hands Off She’s Mine, Rough Rider (“for all the ladies in the audience”), Sooner Or Later and Stand Down Margaret, the songs sounding just as fresh and vital as they did back in the day.

Expectation rose to fever pitch as the gig drew to a close, and The Beat delivered the encore everyone had been waiting for. Ranking Full Stop morphed into Mirror In The Bathroom, mellowed out into some free range skanking and then morphed back, by which time there wasn’t a member of the audience who wasn’t singing along at the top of their voice.

What a joyful sound indeed.

Four stars