Skanking with The English Beat at Antone's in Austin, Texas

"skank (skāngk) noun. A rhythmic dance performed to reggae or ska music, characterized by bending forward, raising the knees, and extending the hands."

I spent the night at Antone's in Austin, skanking with Dave Wakeling and The English Beat. It was an amazing show. Dave's voice, warmth, and enthusiasm haven't changed a bit in the years since TEB broke out in 1979. They played songs from General Public and The English Beat, and some of Dave's solo work, but focused on The English Beat. For two+ hours Ska rocked the house.



They played a couple of Motown covers (including a masterful Tears of a Clown), Rotating Heads, Mirror in the Bathroom, Acklee 123, Can't Get Used To Losing You, I Confess, Tears Of A Clown, Save It For Later, Hands Off She's Mine, Doors Of Your Heart, Ranking Full Stop, Best Friend, Rough Rider, Click Click, Get A Job/Stand Down Margaret, Best Friend (with its awesome guitar lines), and probably a dozen more.

The seven piece band was lock-step tight, and clearly enjoyed themselves. The sax was piercing, the organ/piano was good, but mainly functioned as part of the rhythm section (hey, The Beat never did go much for soloing other than those signature sax lines). Dave's vocals and vocal sound effects were perfect, the drums thundered, and the chiming guitars sounded gorgeous. The new "toaster" (a kind of Ranking Roger replacement who sang and functioned as cheerleader, poet, and rabblerouser) was excellent. Over the years, I've sometimes forgotten just how great this band really is, and what a talented singer and songwriter Dave Wakeling is. And it really hit home that a huge part of the English Beat sound is just Dave's voice and accent.



This band rocked, and I mean rocked, from the first chord to the last. Unlike any show I've seen since, say, The Grateful Dead's last Seattle show in May, 1995, every single person in the audience was on their feet and dancing for the entire two+ hours. Antone's throbbed and pulsed. . .the beers were flying everywhere while people skanked and danced, and the band sucked up all the love and energy and turned it back on us. This show is officially up there in my top ten of all time.



I was again struck by the love and positivity [1] that band was always about, while not ignoring their boho (and Birmingham working class) side. They just moved up a couple of notches in my rockpile pantheon. . .and they were already high up on the mountainside.
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[1] Interestingly, I had to look up the word positivity to verify it is indeed a word and it has a meaning I vaguely knew: "the state or character of being positive: a positivity that accepts the world as it is." That second definition sounds pretty Buddhist to me, but it also applies to Dave Wakeling. He accept things as they are and his music celebrates the sweep of life, but that doesn't mean he doesn't want to change it. And from what I know know of his various charitable works, he's doing it, One Smile At A Time.
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