Gig review: The Specials - SECC, Glasgow

THE parallels between Britain in 2011 and The Specials’ chart heyday of 1981 hardly need stating, but the much loved Two Tone band, on the latest leg of their hugely successful reunion tour, did it anyway with an opening montage of royal weddings and Conservative prime ministers, spliced together with images of recession and rioting – the implicit message being that The Specials’ music, forged against a background of civil unrest and social deprivation in the late 1970s and early 80s, is as relevant today as it was then.

Hearing afresh the lyrics of A Message To You Rudy, as dedicated sardonically by guitarist Lynval Golding to those involved in the August riots, it would be hard to dispute the point. At least back in their day, they appeared to be saying, the youth knew what they were rioting for.

But this is not to suggest there was any brow-beating to their show. The Specials’ great strength, now as then, is their ability to serve up social comment, whether incisive or implicit, in the form of a party soundtrack, generating a right joyful ska knees-up around this unforgiving barn of a space.

Having secured their comeback credentials over the past couple of years, the group could afford to indulge themselves a little in selecting from their back catalogue, with a 90-minute set which drew almost comprehensively from their first two albums.

Following the explosive opening Gangsters, a succession of album tracks and B-sides, including the more reflective likes of Friday Night, Saturday Morning and the trippy Caribbean lounge stylings of International Jet Set brought a lull in energy. But they roared back in the latter stages before signing off with the spookily prescient Ghost Town, which begged the question: who among the current pop crop is writing the soundtrack for this disenfranchised generation?

Rating: ****