I had my 3rd opportunity to go see The English Beat this week.

I am pleased to announce at the outset that there were no overdrunk ska dancers wreaking havoc and creating danger zone for those at the front. The Wednesday night crowd was great.

Cindy and I passed by the small crowd that was waiting at the High Noon for “Doors @ 7” to get food at the Brass Ring first.

By the time we got to the High Noon the crowd was sparse, but all the good tables were taken in the loft, so we took one by the wall to wait until 8 when the show was supposed to start. Or so I thought. I tried to visit my cutting of the High Noon sunshine, but the glass case that used to hold O’Cayz Corral memorabilia, where it was housed, has been changed. Boo.

Just before 8 I made my way downstairs and stood almost center stage.

A few shots at the front…

Slowly the place filled up, but at 8:30 it became obvious show was really going to start at 9. Cindy had come down and was stage left against the wall and I joined her there, still only feet away from the stage.

The crowd that night was largely filled with people my age in sweaters and where last time people were in black and white shoes and shirts very much looking the two-tone life, this crowd seemed very different.

Turned out to be a good thing.

Just after 9 King Schascha came out to do some mic testing

and shortly after, Dave cam out and the show began!

That’s me, and that’s Dave.

The music was immediately fantastic. The sound where I was standing was actually coming from the monitors as well as the speakers, so it was perfect.

They started with Rough Rider, with King Schascha dancing and bouncing around getting the crowd worked up. Then they did Tears of a Clown and Twist & Crawl. I’d like to say I remember all that… but spoiler alert… I got a set list!

My camera sucked this night. I did not get ONE single picture from my Coolpix, so everything I am posting here was from my phone.

The show was amazing, and I have to say that even on only 1 cider, I was spot dancing. Usually I am just a head bobber, but this music really gets to me, somewhere down deep.

Even Cindy was digging it.

I felt her dancing a little as we stood off to the side and took it all in.

Tenderness was a high point in the show, as was Hands Off She’s Mine and although they didn’t do my all time favorite: Sole Salvation, they did do a spectacular Save It For Later that the crowd was shouting out and going crazy to. That was THE highlight for me of the whole show.

There was a lot of social media going on and King Schascha was taking people’s phones and taking selfies, and filming himself with the crowd and he even took the bands phone and recorded some stuff. I went to The English Beat Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/EnglishBeatFans/

and pulled this from that night. This one is of the new song “Love You Give”, Good stuff.

and this is a clip from that Save It For Later which was killer!

The new songs, from the album that is coming soon sounded great. I expected no less. Dave’s voice is still strong and the music has not loosened its hooks in me since the 80’s when I first heard it.

I decided after taking about 50 useless shots to give up with the camera, but I did get this shot of Dave turning to face our way for a bit with my phone. Thanks for holding the pose for a second Dave!

After Dave played Mirror In The Bathroom and Jackpot, he said his goodbyes to the crowd. He came over to shake some hands and I made my way to the stairs and stage left and reached out. He shook my hand! I went all fanboy. It was awesome. Then he was off and King Schascha did band introductions until the very end.

After the music stopped and the lights came up I hung out a bit and asked the drummer if I could get the set list that was by him. He stepped through the obstacle course of cords and stands and drum set to bring it to me. So nice. I shook his hand and thanked him. His beat was giving everyone the 1 for the 1, 2, 3 bounce all night long.

It was a great show, just as good as the first and second time I saw them. Looking forward to show # 4. Dave did mention that they would be touring near the end of the year in support of the new album!

Woo hoo!

Make sure to make Madison a stop on your tour Dave. I’ll be back.