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The Beat @ The Tower, 14th May 2009

The Beat marked their 30th anniversary with a stop at The Tower on their ‘We Just Can’t Stop It’ tour on Thursday evening, and judging by front man Ranking Roger’s charisma and easy manner with a crowd they clearly have at least a few more years in them. Their set drew mainly from their first two records, 1980’s ‘I Just Can’t Stop It’ and the following year’s ‘Wha’ppen? - with a good few fan favourites such as ‘Mirror In The Bathroom’, ‘Hands Off She’s Mine’ and ‘Two Swords’ included to the acclaim of the crowd, as well as a tribute to the late Joe Strummer in the form of a suitably punchy cover of the Clash hit ‘Rock The Casbah’. Looking around the venue, it struck me that a real cross-section of possible age demographics had turned out to see the band. This to me was testament to their influence on both the ska and to an extent punk movements, as along with the likes of the Clash and the Specials they had formed the vanguard of a new, more socially aware vein of British music in the late 1970s- early 80s which clearly continues to prove itself an influence on much of the output from more modern bands, and the Beat themselves made a concession to modernity by including Ranking Roger’s own offspring, Ranking Junior, in place of the by now departed Dave Wakeling- which added a new dimension to their sound as the younger man ably complimented his father by adding a touch of his own more rap-based styling into the ska-heavy mix of music and political statement which has made the group so popular down the years. And they were in no mood to shy away from topicality, dedicating ‘Big Shot’ to the nation’s bankers as well as ad-libbing a cry of ‘Stand down Gordon’ as a partial update to their 1980 Thatcher-bashing anthem ‘Stand Down Margaret’- as sure a sign as any that in many ways times haven’t changed a bit since their initial heyday!

And with that the anniversary party atmosphere was in full swing, Roger playing up to the crowd and really getting into a spirit of communion with the audience as he joked and interacted with his public, some of whom remembered the Beat’s initial heyday better than others. But age proved irrelevant- it was the good time that counted and the band made sure they delivered for everyone, saving the ‘big hitters’ in their setlist for later ( to coin a song title) and managing  an entirely welcome encore, including their version of the Motown hit ‘Tears Of A Clown’ – and then to top it off promising to return at a later date, to rapturous applause, before rounding off the evening.  All things considered it made for a fitting stopover on their milestone tour and Roger and friends clearly enjoyed their evening- long may they reign as one of ska’s hidden treasures………