On Friday, February 21, I had the utmost pleasure of watching ska legends The English Beat perform two shows. One was an intimate performance at The Guitar Store in Seattle’s Green Lake neighborhood and the other was a sold-out performance at the Showbox downtown.
The performance at the Guitar Store attracted about 60 to 75 people and four of the band members — front man, guitarist, Dave Wakeling, drummer Rhythmm Epkins, Matt Morrish on sax and Larry Young on bass. The songs for this intimate show at the Guitar Store were chosen mostly by audience members and included Mirror In the Bathroom (at my request), Best Friends, and Stand Down Margaret (their angry anthem aimed at Margaret Thatcher).
Dave Wakeling is a very congenial performer and oozed congeniality throughout their performance. After, the band signed autographs and chatted with the small but appreciative crowd. I had them sign my 30 plus-year-old poster for when they played Eagles Hippodrome. There was such an unpretentious, relaxed atmosphere inside the store the entire time. Everyone reminisced of old times and just enjoyed mingling.
That evening I attended the sold out show at the Showbox. Now a keyboard player (Kevin Lum) and, for lack of a better description, MC and vocalist, Antonee First Class, who riled up the crowd with his unbridled charm and enthusiasm, sometimes rapping (while Dave tuned his guitar) and getting the audience to participate by singing or clapping along. Within seconds he had them obeying his every command. Meanwhile, Mr. Congeniality (Dave Wakeling) charmed everyone and at one point did a Gregorian chant about living through the eighties. This led into a ska version of the old Staples Singers hit I’ll Take You There (which ironically was released in the early seventies).
When they played their hit Sooner Or Later there wasn’t a still body in the house and the floor heaved as everyone jumped up and down. Briefly this song became Pearl Jam’s Better Man before turning back into Sooner Or Later. When they performed Stand Down, Margaret, Dave ended the song with a sinister, snarling, “rest in peace.”
The English Beat played a good two hours and the sound was impeccable. I wish I could say the same about the audience. Personally I’ve seen better behaved crowds consistng mostly of 16 to 30-year-olds than I saw from these aging yuppies still totally stuck on themselves. One woman thought I was taking her spot, when I was just stashing my camera safely behind the barricade and she started pushing me. Another woman, as tall as she was wide with bleached hair and makeup applied with a garden trowel shoved her way to the stage, nearly knocking me down, just to give a note to the band asking them to dedicate some song to someone. She didn’t get her request.
Opening the show was Seattle’s own Georgetown Orbits. The Orbits are a very different band now that front man Darryl Grandison is no longer with them. Bridgid Roney has taken over on lead vocals (prior to that she did backing vocals). Now with one week left in her pregnancy, she looked and sounded great. Her voice is sweet, but rich. Her voice actually reminded me much of the female vocalists who were so prevalent in the swing movement of the 1940s. Mostly, GTOs play very smooth ska that at times also sounds similar to swing music and at other times almost jazzy. This is particularly true when they did their cover of the old Dusty Springfield hit, Son Of A Preacher Man, but did liven things up with an upbeat cover of the Rascals Good Luvin’. They were very enthusiastically approved as judged by the many dancing bodies and exuberant cheers and applause that followed their set.
Despite the poseurs and all around obnoxious people, the English Beat and the Georgetown Orbits put on another fun-filled night of ska in Seattle.
