As a huge ska fan, an interesting problem has arisen for me. After a lifetime of worshiping The Specials, a band that broke up before I was even born, the ska legends have reunited for a tour. As you might imagine, I was thrilled when I heard this news. Seeing The Specials live has been something I’ve always fantasized about and now it’s actually happening. It’d be like if you were an American history buff and you heard that Abraham Lincoln was not only back from the dead, but that he was not a murderous zombie creature and he was going to be doing the Gettysburg Address at Club Nokia in April. You’d be stoked right? Ok, you get it.
But then I started to think… what if they’re rusty? What if those bootleg mp3s I have of them playing at a London pub in 1979 outshine seeing them live in person? Will it be depressing if my concert-going life has led up to this moment and I leave the show thinking “meh, at least they played Ghost Town?” Yes, it will be.
So I broke one of my cardinal concert rules – I watched footage of a band I’m going to see soon playing live on YouTube. Doing this takes away the element of surprise and excitement when you see the show , but I had to know. I felt like a suspicious girlfriend going through her cheating boyfriends emails… I didn’t care what I found I just had to know.
But luckily, what I found was very good news. I watched a version of “Do The Dog” from their Brixton Academy show and it sounded great. So great that I found my self dancing a little bit in my office chair until my coworkers noticed. I had to stop myself there or I knew I’d find a set list and watch a whole show on the internet. But for now my nerves are calmed.
The only thing I’m worried about now is figuring out how to pass the next month and a half until that damn Club Nokia show.
