The Slackers

Lots of veteran ska bands hitting the road this spring and summer...

Congratulations to The Slackers, who will celebrate their 20th anniversary with a show in their hometown at Bowery Ballroom on June 17th. Tickets are on sale. The show comes less than two weeks after the band returns from a trip to the EU for a few weeks of dates which are all listed below.

Meanwhile, NYC's The Toasters celebrated their 30th anniversary with a beer (named after them, that is) (video below), and after the band returns from Europe, they'll play a Rocks Off Cruise on June 12th. Tickets for the NYC boat show are on sale. All tour dates are below.

The Pietasters will follow the lead of The Toasters, and play July 29th on a Rocks Off Concert Cruise. Tickets are on sale. The show is one of a few East Coast dates scheduled for the band, all of which are listed below.

Bad Manners returns to the US and to NYC with a pair of local shows: May 5th at Maxwell's with Hub City Stompers (tickets) and June 14th at The Studio at Webster Hall (tickets).

UPDATE: The English Beat have added a NYC show happening July 2nd at Irving Plaza in NYC.

All tour dates and some videos, below...

Continue reading "ska roundup (Slackers, Toasters, Pietasters & Bad Manners) --- upcoming shows & tours"

by Klaus Kinski

As a former Boston skinhead with a former penchant for Ska and hardcore, it's safe to say that The English Beat's music radiated from my car speakers more than a few times as I delivered pizza back in the day. Though they weren't my favorite band of the genre, when they're good, they are freaking amazing. Now as an older skinhead-via-heredity, it's with mixed levels of enthusiasm that I announce that Dave Wakeling and the English Beat are embarking on a pretty serious Summer/Fall North American Tour, eventually skanking their way to Webster Hall on August 21, 2010. Bad Manners is supporting, which is AWESOME. Tickets go on sale July 9, 2010 (Amex presale begins today, July 7th, at noon).

Why the mixed levels of enthusiasm? Well, I am no purist, but I can't really get jazzed about seeing a band, any band, with only one original member. And though it is a scientific fact that David Wakeling (English Beat founding member and currently the only original member) is an EXTREMELY awesome guy, I'm not sure he necessarily deserves his title of "Legendary King of Ska". I can think of about 10 'ska legends' before he would even enter the picture, and ain't one of them a white dude from the UK. Legendary? Maybe. King? Hell no.

That said, between the Bosstones coming to Irving Plaza, The Pietasters playing on a boat (tickets), The Slackers also playing on a boat (tickets), and more Ska shows inevitably popping up, it's gonna be a good season for skankin' in NYC.

All English Beat dates (including a show in the Hamptons this Friday) below...

Continue reading "The English Beat tour dates & other upcoming ska shows"

by Black Bubblegum

The English Beat

Yesterday we were talking about a reunion of The Specials, as part of their 30th anniversary. The band aren't touring in the US (so far), but another pair of 2 Tone bands are... The English Beat and Bad Manners. Tickets are on sale for a NYC show at Irving Plaza on Feb 6th, 2009... part of a larger late-January/early-February tour that will also take the band to The Crazy Donkey in Farmingdale on Feb 5th. And if you haven't planned your New Years Eve yet, The English Beat are also playing The Klein in Bridgeport, CT, on December 31, 2008 (tickets here).

For those of you who like your ska in heaping doses, The Knitting Factory has your fix with "3 Floors of Ska" on Dec 29th featuring Westbound Train, King Django, Hub City Stompers, Bluebeats, Royal City Riot, Bigger Thomas featuring Roy Radics, Void Union, Allstonians, The Attack & Skanotto. Tickets are also on sale.

All English Beat tour dates below...

Continue reading "The English Beat tour dates & the last 3-floors of ska @ KF"