The English Beat @ Starland Ballroom 7/11/09

Let me start off this review with my thoughts on Starland Ballroom. I have been to Starland Ballroom many times since it opened, and whether it is in July or January, the venue is always a sweat box. Their air conditioning system is ill suited for the venue, and the air is stale and reeks of everyone's sweat. It is not a comfortable environment for a concert. If you look at the ceiling there are several fans in the venue...none of them are ever turned on. For this particular show I stood off to the side where there was only a handful of people, and plenty of room between us, and it was still uncomfortably hot. Considering what tickets for concerts cost these days, one would think the venue would at least make the concert going experience comfortable.

On top of that, Starland Ballroom does not have a great sound system. It is certainly serviceable, but I've always felt like the sound there is a bit muddled. At a good venue, the lyrics are clearly heard, at Starland, I often struggle to make out what the person is saying between the songs.

So when I arrived at Starland Ballroom, and stepped into the sweat box, and had trouble making out what opening act, The Supervillians, were singing during their abbreviated set (they only got to do 4 songs for some reason), my mood went to one of optimism for the evening to wondering how long I had to stay there before I could leave and still write a review...or before I succumbed to the lack of cool air and passed out.

Thankfully the changeover between The Supervillians and The English Beat was relatively quick (under 30 minutes), meaning less time trapped in this hot room.

Technically Reel Big Fish were the headliner for this show, a band I have seen several times over the years and never been blown away by their performance, but were always enjoyable, but on this night, the headliner to me was the English Beat.

They were the reason I was sweating profusely in an uncomfortable venue.

I grew up listening to the English Beat (and later, General Public), and recently was lucky enough to interview frontman Dave Wakeling. In talking to him and hearing his joy of touring, and still playing these songs, I was excited to finally get to see The English Beat live. I hope I wasn't letting myself get too excited, gotta keep my expectations low...many bands that have been playing for 30 years become a parody of their former selves (insert your own example here, as there are too many to choose from).

From the moment they took the stage I could feel the energy pulsing in their set opener, "rough rider", and surprisingly, I could see the mostly younger audience (too young to have heard The English Beat the first go 'round), really into it, and singing along to the song! These are kids, many in Reel Big Fish shirts, paying respect to one of the two-tone forefathers. Most of the crowd was skanking, grooving, or crowd surfing??? Crowd Surfing to the English Beat? Didn't see that one coming.

For the next hour, The English Beat mixed more obscure songs with their hits ("mirror in the bathroom", "sooner or later", "tenderness", among others), and 3 new songs that fit so seamlessly into their set I figured they were just more obscure older songs.

The show was more than just a concert, it was a party!

And for anyone wondering, Dave Wakeling sounds just as good today as he did 30 years ago on their first album.

In spite of my problems with Starland Ballroom I still had an amazing time at this show, which is truly a testament to how good The English Beat are live.

If you have the chance to see them, go!

Unfortunately I was so drenched in sweat by the end of the English Beat's set that I chose not to stick around for Reel Big Fish.

www.myspace.com/officialbeatspace


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