30th Anniversary Tour Live

Culture+ presents… (Culture+ being a section of the newspaper)

How cool is this? Original Coventry rude bwoys, The Specials are to
reunite for a 2009 30th anniversary tour!

Amazingly, it will be the first time the band - with an almost complete
original line-up - will have played together since 1981. The only
original member not present will be founder member and keyboard
player Jerry Dammers. The lineup will feature: Terry Hall, Neville
Staple, Sir Horace Gentleman, Roddy Radiation, Lynval Golding and
John Bradbury.

2009 will mark the 30th anniversary of the band signing to Dammers'
2 Tone label in 1979, and being known as 'The Specials' rather than
The Automatics/ The Coventry Automatics/ Special AKA. Their debut
single 'Gangsters' hit the top ten in the same year as did 'A Message
to you, Rudy', followed by chart-topper 'Too Much, Too Young' the
following year - all taken from the stunning eponymous debut - itself a
top ten hit in the album charts. The last single released by the
Specials was the seminal 'Ghost Town' - and what a way to sign-off!

No doubt, the catalyst for the 30th anniversary tour may well have
been The Beat's 30th anniversary tour - also slated for next year - and
which Specials' man Neville Staple will be performing in at least one
date.

The tour runs from 22nd April to 7th May and includes dates in
Newcastle, Sheffield, Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester and London,
but conspicuous with it's absence is the band's hometown of
Coventry.