Win Tickets ($70): English Beat @ Revolution Hall | Latin, Ska, Pop, Soul, Reggae & Punk Rock
We are giving away a pair of tickets to English Beat @ Revolution Hall on April 26. To win, comment below on this post why you’d like to attend. Winner will be drawn and emailed April 18.
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From our sponsors:
English Beat
April 26, 2022
Doors 7PM, Show 8PM | $25 | 21+
More info: event.etix.com
Revolution Hall
1300 SE Stark St., Portland, OR
One tempestuous weekend in March 1979 was not only the date of the Three Mile Island nuclear incident, but also, in Birmingham, England, the very first show by a nascent band known as The Beat. Introduced as “the hottest thing since the Pennsylvania meltdown”, the band had a sense that the next few years could well be explosive! The Beat hailed from working class, industrial Birmingham, England. When The Beat rushed on to the music scene in 1979, it was a time of social, political and musical upheaval. Into this storm came The Beat, trying to calm the waters with their simple message of love and unity set to a great dance beat.
The Beat were all about inclusion, raather than exclusion, and this showed in their personnel and their music influences. The original band consisted of Dave Wakeling on vocals and guitar, Andy Cox on guitar, David Steele on bass, and Everett Morton on drums – later additions Ranking Roger (toasting) and foundational First Wave Ska legend Saxa (saxophone) completed the outfit. The band crossed over fluidly between soul, reggae, pop and punk, and from these disparate pieces they created an infectious dance rhythm. Along with their contemporaries The Specials, The Selecter, and Madness, the band became an overnight sensation and one of the most popular and influential bands of the British Two Tone Ska movement.
By Christmas of 1979, The Beat were riding high in the UK charts with their first single, a smoking remake of the classic Smokey Robinson tune Tears of a Clown. Over the course of the next five years The Beat toured relentlessly and released three studio albums: I Just Can’t Stop It, Wh’appen, and Special Beat Service. The band toured the world, touring with such artists as David Bowie, The Police, REM, The Clash, The Talking Heads, The Pretenders, and The Specials, to name but a few. The Beat kept scoring hits with tunes that have now become so popular that it’s hard to remember a time when they didn’t exist, such as Mirror in the Bathroom, Save it for Later, I Confess, Stand Down Margaret, and their serene cover of the Andy William penned Can’t Get Used To Losing You.
Despite their huge success, The Beat continued singing about and acting on the problems we all face. They donated all the profits from their highly successful single version of Stand Down Margaret to the Committee for Nuclear Disarmament. They donated their music to causes including the anti-nuclear benefit album Life in The European Theatre, The World of Music and Dance album focusing on indigenous people’s art, and lent their voices to The Special AKA’s anthemic freedom cry Free Nelson Mandela, to name but a few.
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On the soundtrack of my college years…
Mirror in the Bathroom was my song in the 80’s – Love a bop! Guess you could say I was on the New Wave!
This sounds like such a fun show! Would love to go.
The English Beat have been on my bucket list for years. Save It For Later is simply one of the greatest songs ever written. Stand Down Margaret!
Cranking Full Stop!
I’ve heard these guys are good. Count me in. Thanks.
I come from the Birmingham area so these are hometown boys to me! I’d love to see them live again, especially as they were one of the first bands I loved!
What a treat this would be. I might even stand down.
My last name is English. My freshman year in college I somehow acquired the nickname English Beat because I was also a big fan of the band.
30 years later and it still sticks 🙂
I’d like to see what Dave sounds like with a few hired hands.
Yes, please! 😍
A new wave/ska 80’s girl dream come true!
One of my favorite 80s new wave bands!! Would be an HONOR to see them
My favorite of the Two Tone bands! Super fun live!
I love 80’s music and would enjoy going to this concert
Pick me!
Would love to see them
I’d be bloody thrilled if you pick me.
Oh, wow 😍 It would be absolutely thrilling to see English Beat live here in Portland. I’ve been a huge fan of theirs since I was 16, but never had the opportunity to see them play. I would be singing along to all their songs and maybe revisiting my ska dancing “skills” and truly having the best time 😄😎🛵🇬🇧🚦🎷
Big fan, but never got to see them live (even if recently sadly diminished). We’d love to go!!
We would LOVE to see them!
Lots to see here!
The 80s was a time where I became the man I am, the music of the 89s help shape me. The English Beat was always one of my favorites, the music, the mood, the life, would love the opportunity to step back in time and relive some of my fondest memories.
“Sooner or Later” somebody is going to win, let it be me so I can look at a winner in the “Mirror in the Bathroom.” Yes, I’m a fan of the English Beat.
I’ve been trying to build a time machine so that I can return to my high school years of the mid-80s purely for the music. Winning tix to transport me back to that time would be way easier. Thanks!
YESSSSSSSSSS!
just can’t stop it!
“I confess” I would love to see Dave and the band.
Love The English Beat! I wanna go!
One of my wife’s fav’s…the original Ska band! I would score so many good husband points to surprise her with tickets to this show!!
Bring back some good memories. Their song have such great rhythm.
Haven’t seen them since I photographed them in NYC 40 yrs ago at THE RITZ, now called Webster Hall, I believe, which is on East 13th St. Great band. Best dance band, ever! Too bad SAXA & RANKING ROGER are no longer with us, but their memory lives on.