Legendary 2 Tone-era ska act The Specials will continue its reunion in 2011 with a “lengthy tour” that will feature the band performing its self-titled 1979 debut and its 1980 follow-up More Specials back-to-back, frontman Terry Hall told a Manchester, England, audience last Friday.
According to ska blog Marco on the Bass, Hall — who was interviewed on stage for 90 minutes by famed Haçienda DJ Dave Haslam during last Friday’s event — said “the tour would start in July and that the format would be for the band to play both albums back to back.” It’s unclear whether such dates would be confined to England.
It also remains unknown whether the Specials plan to make good on their promise to return to the U.S. “in early 2011” after playing just a handful of April dates — including a slot at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival — this year and abruptly canceling a major New York City appearance in August over reported visa issues.
Below you can watch about 20 minutes of Hall’s interview, during which he’s asked about the origin of the Specials and songwriter Jerry Dammers’ decision not to tour with the reunited lineup (“It was sad; it just didn’t work out,” Hall says of the band’s two-week rehearsal with Dammers), among other subjects.
See video of Terry Hall’s interview after the jump…
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS:
- The Specials cancel New York SummerStage concert, plan U.S. tour in 2011
- Video: The Specials play ‘Jimmy Kimmel,’ set North American concerts
- Coachella video: Echo & The Bunnymen, The Specials, Public Image Ltd.
- Video: The Specials play ‘A Message to You, Rudy’ on ‘Jimmy Fallon’
- The Specials add Los Angeles, Toronto dates to short April tour of North America
- The Specials to play ‘Jimmy Fallon,’ New York in April; full U.S. tour later in 2010
I’ve been to 73 shows in Toronto this year (and counting) and The Specials sits at #1 by a landslide. It was the most fun I’ve ever had at a concert and a magnificent performance by the band. It was their second show in two nights but they still brought their A game.
Hi i would love to know who’s that girl appearing in the cover of more specials. She’s clearly not rhoda Dakar.
Tnx