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Tour Dates
09/14 Riot Fest Chicago, IL
09/16 Call The Office London, Canada 09/17 Lees Palace Toronto, Canada 09/18 Starlight Room Waterloo, Canada 09/19 Trocadero Theatre Philadelphia, PA 09/20 Gramercy Theatre New York, NY 09/21 Paradise Rock Club Boston, MA 09/22 State Theatre Washington, DC 10/12 02 Academy Bristol, UK 10/13 02 Academy Bournemouth, UK 10/16 02 Academy Liverpool, UK 10/17 02 Academy Leeds, UK 10/18 02 Academy Glasgow, UK 10/20 02 Academy Birmingham, UK 10/21 Shepherds Bush Empire London, UK Read More If you love 2 tone ska, you would've loved The Selecter in the 70s, along with such bands like Madness, The Beat (The English Beat) and The Specials. .…
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British ska legend The Selecter made a rare U.S. appearance at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis last night, September 13th; kicking off the start of their 8-date tour in North America. If it's a sign for what's to come, then you'll be happy to know that the band is in tight form, playing all the songs (plus extra b-sides) from Too Much Pressure and, of course, looking good and well-dressed while doing it.
Between bands, DJ Jake Rudh played a selection of 70s and 80s ska music videos (Madness, Specials, etc), and opening up the show was Cincinnati's The Pinstripes. The youthful six-piece band includes a brass section (trombone and trumpet) and the traditional bass/guitar/drum. They played mostly from their 2012 self-titled album, including "One Drop", "Give Some Love", "Mother", "I'll Be Waiting", and their finale "I Might Be Her Fool".
Fans (mostly older, but dressed in the typical suits or punk style) were eager to see The Selecter and you can tell the band love to perform and more than happy to meet and greet before and after the show. "I can't believe they [bands] charge for that sh**," said Pauline Black on stage, "we'll be happy to sign and meet you all!"
Although key song writer Neol Davies is not part of this version of The Selecter, he does perform under "The Selecter" name (not a surprise, having seen this sort of confusion with Asia or Beach Boys). Anyway, it would have been nice to see Davies share the spotlight with Pauline "Queen of Ska" Black and Gaps Hendrickson, but, to be honest, I don't think any of the rude boys or girls cared… they were all busy skanking and pogoing and spinning and having a good time.
The other thing to note is that I thought The Selecter would be doing tracks from their 2013 album String Theory, but only the a few songs were played, including the intro, "The Avengers Theme". The majority of their set is their entire album Too Much Pressure. Yes, all the songs were played, and in this order: "Three Minute Hero", "Everyday (Time Hard)", "They Make Me Mad", "Missing Words", "Danger", "Street Feeling", "My Collie (Not A Dog)", "Too Much Pressure", "Murder", "Out On The Streets", "Carry Go Bring Come", "Black and Blue", and "James Bond". If you love Too Much Pressure, don't miss this tour.
Rounding out the rest of their set were 'selections' from their second album Celebrate the Bullet, including its title track and "Train to Skaville". My favorite track from the post-Pressure set is actually their cover of Doris Day's "Secret Love". Of course, The Selecter's version is a mixture of classic love song and two-tone ska, making for a unique twist. Apparently the song is taken from their new album String Theory.
So, fans of the 1980 The Selecter album Too Much Pressure should not miss this "Non-Stop Pressure Tour Part Two" North American appearance. They are only appearing at 6 U.S. dates, so make the effort to see them this year. They return to the U.K. in October to play a string of dates with PIL at the O2 Academy.
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THE PINSTRIPES
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Fans (mostly older, but dressed in the typical suits or punk style) were eager to see The Selecter and you can tell the band love to perform and more than happy to meet and greet before and after the show. "I can't believe they [bands] charge for that sh**," said Pauline Black on stage, "we'll be happy to sign and meet you all!"
Although key song writer Neol Davies is not part of this version of The Selecter, he does perform under "The Selecter" name (not a surprise, having seen this sort of confusion with Asia or Beach Boys). Anyway, it would have been nice to see Davies share the spotlight with Pauline "Queen of Ska" Black and Gaps Hendrickson, but, to be honest, I don't think any of the rude boys or girls cared… they were all busy skanking and pogoing and spinning and having a good time.
The other thing to note is that I thought The Selecter would be doing tracks from their 2013 album String Theory, but only the a few songs were played, including the intro, "The Avengers Theme". The majority of their set is their entire album Too Much Pressure. Yes, all the songs were played, and in this order: "Three Minute Hero", "Everyday (Time Hard)", "They Make Me Mad", "Missing Words", "Danger", "Street Feeling", "My Collie (Not A Dog)", "Too Much Pressure", "Murder", "Out On The Streets", "Carry Go Bring Come", "Black and Blue", and "James Bond". If you love Too Much Pressure, don't miss this tour.
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THE SELECTER
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they repeated “Too Much Pressure” again
Also, worth mentioning is they repeated "Too Much Pressure" again for the encore. I'm not quite sure why they decided to play that song again, but I believe the encore version mixes in a few other surprises/songs, but keeping the familiar chorus "too much pressure". Their second song for the encore and closing out their set was "667 (The Neighbour of the Beast)", also taken from String Theory.
So, fans of the 1980 The Selecter album Too Much Pressure should not miss this "Non-Stop Pressure Tour Part Two" North American appearance. They are only appearing at 6 U.S. dates, so make the effort to see them this year. They return to the U.K. in October to play a string of dates with PIL at the O2 Academy.
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The Selecter at the Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (09/13/13) |
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They played Too Much Pressure twice because: 1) it's that good; 2) the 2nd version incorporated the song "Pressure Drop" into the middle before returning to TMP.
Posted by: Jeff Young | 09/16/2013 at 06:29 PM