Specials - 3oth Anniversary Reunion Tour first night - Newcastle Academy

The entire gig, from start to finish, was completely exhilarating, a real celebration of a mighty band.

Loads of fat old skinheads - boys and girls - all getting dressed up again in their old gear - braces, pork pie hats, the lot; the crowd singing "Moonstomp" - yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeaaaaah! - before the band had even come on, generating a spine-tingling atmosphere; everyone boozed up, but friendly in the mosh - proper pushing about and then catching our breath between songs, 'cause we ain't getting any younger!; I lost my shoe during "Too much too young", found it again and rather than try and put it back on I just waved it around my head during "The skinhead symphony"...

Highlights for me were "Too much too young" and "Gangsters", of course, but also a mighty "Do Nothing" and "Message...". "Little Bitch" was frenzied, and the dubby bits on "Man at C&A" and "Stereotype" were excellent. Much skanking took place.

The band seemed genuinely stunned and awed by the crowd's reaction. Terry Hall said it was "a f--king privilege" to play for us "and I mean that", so I'm guessing they were as ecstatic as we were.

Only bum note: finding out Terry Hall is a United fan.

In other words, straight in to my Top 10 gigs ever - Top 5 for my mate Guy [see below]! Probably just outside for me - what with Pixies at Manchester international in April 1989 at #1, closely followed by The Four Brothers at Leeds Irish Centre - weirdly, also in 1989 - a close 2nd - those two exist way out on a plane all of their own, like a portal opened up in space and time to produce a higher dimension of gig; then, getting very close but still of this planet, there is the Hold Steady at #3 and 4, The Smiths' last ever gig at Brixton Academy at #5, Ice Cube at Bratfud Uni, and CUD [not sure which one exactly as they were all great in 89-91]!

My mate Guy who came with me had this to say: "I reckon I was a bit hasty with my '“top 5' rating last night. I’ve seen better bands and better musicians, and I’ve been more blown away by sound, staging, lights etc etc, but it terms of pure enjoyment last night is right up there challenging for top spot! I had a permanent smile all through the gig, and it hasn’t worn off this morning. Best fun I’ve had at a gig in years, possibly ever. The crowd was jumping from start to finish, and nobody wanted to leave, even when the lights came on… We caught a Specials special on the radio on the way home, just to round off a great night (btw Graham – I sent a text to the station after I dropped you off, and she read it out as I was on my way home!)

If you don't believe us, you can read a splendid, evocative review of the night from The Grauniad here. And, given the wonders of YouTube, you can see much of the gig here!

The Hold Steady - Camden Koko

In March 2008 I travelled down to London on a particularly generous 'pass out' from the missus, to meet up with Osc, Luke and Jon to go and see my absolute favourite band of the last year or so (in fact, my favourite band since The Smiths), The Hold Steady.As a Guardian writer once put it, "The Hold Steady couldn't sound less fashionable if they set up a branch of C&A". Their bar-room rock n roll with fist-pumping, terrace-like choruses sounds like early Springsteen (especially with twinkling piano going on in the background). But their deceptively simple-sounding Americana guitars occasionally veer into chaos, which gives a hint of the band's punk roots. It's like early Springsteen played by a punk band in tribute, and that's what makes it wondrous somehow. It pushes my button every single time. I love them. (This is the best example available on YouTube.)

But the reason above all others that I adore them is, being the son of an English teacher, the singer Craig Finn's jawdroppingly fantastic lyrics. His songs tell vivid stories of drunken and druggy excess and regret centred around a few regular characters from - I am assuming - his youth in Minneapolis. I am probably reading way too much into it, and apparently Finn has said they are 'characters', not real people whose stories he is passing on to us. But he produces such vivid images I feel like I know these people. So, for me, they're real...

In particular, there is a girl called Holly ("a real sweet girl who's made some not-sweet friends") who turns up regularly. In the songs Finn is clearly in love with her, and has been since he was a teenager, but it's classic unrequited 'just-good-friends', and so he seems to be watching her descend into bad drugs and abuse, unable to help much. So he sings of her conceding that she's "laid beneath my lovers, but I've never gotten laid/ Some nights she felt protected, some nights she felt afraid", and of parties "that start lovely/ But they get druggy/ And they get ugly/ And they get bloody".


Well, if you listen to the albums in chronological order, we get introduced to Holly as a messed-up and abused girl trying to redeem herself by attending Christian camps "down by the banks of the Mississippi river". She gets 'born again' and seems to have sorted herself out at the very end of the 2nd album in one of Finn's most fantastic lyrics:
"The preacher caught a draft/ The deacon kinda laughed/ She stumbled into the Easter Mass with her hair done up in broken glass/ She was limping left on broken heels, when she said/ 'Father, can I tell your congregation how a resurrection really feels?'" The final 'chant' is "Welcome back" from the whole band, and it's heart-warming and moving.



But, by "First Night" on the 3rd album, "Holly's not invincible/In fact. she's in the hospital....", and you know she's slipped back again into the drugs and/or abuse, and I don't know about anyone else, but I almost choked when I got this update. At the gig I almost wanted to shout out, "How's Holly? Is she OK?", which would probably have been met with bemusement, but it's testament to Finn that I really care about this girl.


Other genius lines include one about a girl going out with anverbearing boyfriend: "You can wear his old sweatshirts/ And cover yourself like a bruise".


All three albums are brilliant. The gig was tremendous: the band were up for it, and so was the audience, and knowing the words like they are sacred text definitely enhances the experience. The new songs, off the new album, were also excellent. I'd seen them in Leeds in May 2007, and will do so again in Newcastle in July.