By Jim Rowland
Since his passing in 2019, The Beat frontman Ranking Roger has been sorely missed, but his son Ranking Jnr has picked up the baton and continues to move onwards with the Ranking version of the 2-Tone legends. Tonight ska fans in Bournemouth hit the jackpot with a veritable feast of ska, reggae & 2-Tone…
It’s nice when you get to see support slots go to local talent at gigs, and that’s just what you get with The Decatonics tonight, one of Dorset’s top ska bands who’ve actually been going for over ten years now. They deliver a crowd-pleasing set featuring 2-Tone era classics like ‘Gangsters’, ‘Walking In The Sunshine’, ‘Missing Words’, ‘Too Much Pressure’ and a riotous ‘On My Radio’, alongside reggae classics like ‘Three Little Birds’ and ’54-46 That’s My Number’, that really get the crowd warmed up and moving. What seems to make this band a bit more special is their ability to take songs that you wouldn’t expect to hear from a ska band and ‘ska them up’ into something really quite new. Their versions of Suzi Quatro’s ‘If You Can’t Give Me Love’ (yes, really), and The Cranberries’ ‘Zombie’, segued into Edwin Starr’s ‘War’, work a treat. This eight-piece band, featuring a cracking brass section it has to be said, get a well-deserved rousing reception.
- Forthcoming shows by The Decatonics include the Locomotive Club in Eastleigh this Saturday (4 February), Kinson Con Club in Bournemouth on Friday 17 February, Tyber’s Rum Bar in Tunbridge Wells on Saturday 4 March and the March Of The Festival at The 1865 in Southampton on Saturday 11 March.
Ranking Jnr’s five-piece version of The Beat manage to recreate the sound of the original band to an impressive level, and balance the old and the new very well. There’s loads of the classic oldies crammed into the set, all pretty much from the time of the first album. Singles ‘Too Nice To Talk To’, ‘Hands Off She’s Mine’, ‘Rankin Full Stop’ and set closer ‘Mirror In The Bathroom’ sound superb alongside classic album tracks like ‘Twist and Crawl’, ‘Stand Down Margaret’, ‘Jackpot’ and ‘Noise In This World’. ‘Side To Side’ and ‘My Dream’ feature from Ranking Roger’s ‘Bounce’ album, although sadly not enough time for anything from his superb parting shot ‘Public Confidential’ album. It’s not all old stuff though, and the excellent Boris-bashing ‘Oi You’ is a prime example that this version of The Beat with Ranking Jnr at the helm carries the spirit of the band forward in just the right fashion, and can pen quality new material.
Ranking Jnr himself is certainly a chip off the old block and a bundle of energy skipping around the stage and feeding from the energy of the sizable audience packed in tonight. Despite a few sound issues with the booming bass guitar, The Beat deliver a fantastic set, and thanks to both bands Bournemouth gets a great night of top notch ska.
- The Beat feat. Ranking Jnr play The Warehouse in Leeds on Saturday (4 February), the Fleece in Bristol on Friday 10 February, The Welly in Hull on Friday 24 February and The Live Rooms in Chester on Saturday 25 February.
- PHOTO CREDIT: Photos courtesy of Rob Collier.
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