Two-Tone & Specials night on BBC 4
The BBC in the UK are to dedicate a full evening to celebrate all that is awesome about Two Tone and The Specials.
Hitting the screens on Friday 29th March the nights entertainment will kick off at 9pm with ‘Terry Hall at The BBC’, a trip into the BBC’s archives to look back on Terry Hall’s extraordinary, genre-hopping career. It will feature performances of hits including ‘Gangsters’, ‘Thinking of You’ and ‘Sense’.
Immediately after, at 10pm, they will air The Specials ‘Rock Goes to College’, possibly the best recorded performance The Specials ever did, complete with a thrown tambourine and mass stage invasion…just breathtaking and well worth a watch.
After this at 10:45pm, there’s ‘Rudies Come Back: The Rise and Rise of 2 Tone’, from 12th March 1980 with Adrian Thrills investigating the label featuring interviews with The Selecter and The Specials.
11:20pm sees ‘The Specials live in session for Steve Lamacq on BBC Radio 6 Music’. Finishing at 5 minutes to midnight, you’d think that would be it, but the treats just keep coming!
‘2-Tone: The Sound of Coventry’ follows the live session. Using music, archive and new interviews, this documentary is the story of 2 Tone and includes a rare interview with Jerry Dammers, and contributions from other key players like Pauline Black & Neville Staple.
Rounding of the night (and early morning), Jools Holland presents a look back at some archive treats from some of the stars of reggae and ska music, including reggae greats such as Gregory Isaacs in 1995 and Jimmy Cliff in 2008, and some of the joyous performances from the Annual Hootenanny, with the likes of Desmond Dekker and his big hit ‘Israelites’ to Dawn Penn and Lee Thompson and not forgetting the inimitable Amy Winehouse who shared her love for the genre with a rendition of a Toots and the Maytals song. Plus there will be a look back at some of the biggest ska bands to have performed on the show, such as The Specials and Madness.
It’s going to be one hell of a night in front of the T.V. – grab a few beers and settle in!
Unfortunately, I will be on holiday so will miss out but I will be in Jamaica, so every cloud and all that!!🇯🇲
