The Beat
The Beat: Live at Concorde 2 in Brighton. Nov 2016.
“We’ve got a style to suit everybody,” affirmed long-serving Beat frontman “Ranking” Roger Charlery during this lengthy set of classics from the group he led for five years and three albums around the turn of the 1980s.”
Ranking Roger was on a mission to bring his version of the band The Beat to Brighton for a sold out gig at Concorde 2.
Joining Roger on stage was his son Ranking Junior who we were introduced to with Roger announcing how proud he was to have him on stage, with drummer Oscar Harrison from Ocean Colour Scene, Fuzz Townsend and the absolutely brilliant Chiko Hamilton on saxophone, they soon had this packed in crowd singing, tapping their feet and shuffling around as though they were back in the day.
Touring to promote their first album in thirty years, yep! 30 years! Bounce and also because they just love performing live, they opened with a song which had massive repercussions for the band back in the day, a mash up of Whine And Grind and Stand Down Margaret. This was a great way yo open up the set. We were given all the old material and some of the new stuff from the previously mentioned new album BOUNCE.
But someone really does need to tell Roger to slow down a bit. He ran around that stage as though they were in training for an athletic event. A quarter of the way through the set Roger stripped down to a vest and just kept going. His tall and sleek frame just kept on moving! They delivered crowd pleasing hit after old hit. Admitting that “they haven’t had a set list in over five years, they look at the crowd and know what tune to play next”, they must have known that they would not have been able to leave the stage without playing Hands Off She’s Mine, Too Nice To Talk To and a highly energised and lively version of Mirror in The Bathroom.
This had been a night of SKA, high tempo, energetic music that had left this crowd sweaty, hot and exhausted. Well played The Beat and a great Merch desk.
*UPDATE: The Beat have just announced a full set of tour dates for 2017.
THE RPMS
Brighton band The RPMS were guests of The Beat. Jack, Callum and Miguel gave us an astonishingly good 30 minute set list which pulled in a sizeable crowd. The usual cracking tunes were pulled in for us all to enjoy.
They provided the demonstration placards and various reasons to protest. The set finished with “I wanna work in Abercrombie & Fitch” after Jack gave us a breakdown about the song. He got the crowd singing along. Well played The RPMS – am sure 2017 is going to be good for these guys.
Ruby Jean Rose
We also had a 15 minute set from Ruby Jean Rose. A stunning performance. It cant be easy to be first on, on your own with an acoustic guitar. Some bitter sweet material and a great cover of “These Boots are Made For Walking”! I Want to see and hear more!
A great night of music at Concorde 2 arranged by One Inch Badge.
The Beat are on the WWW
The RPMS are on the WWW
Ruby Jean Rose is on the WWW
Thanks to all the artists, Concorde 2 One Inch Badge
All photos/words are copyright to IANB/MEDIA WORKS and Scene Sussex. If any of the artists or venues require any of these photos, or more if available, please get in touch.