The Specials are making good on their reunion promises and hitting the road in 2009. Following their reformation back in March, the influential ska outfit have announced they will play a string of UK tour dates to celebrate the group's 30th anniversary, and with nearly all the original members attached.
Front-man Terry Hall, Neville Staple, Sir Horace Gentleman, Roddy Radiation, Lynval Golding and John Bradbury are all back onboard for the group's first tour since 1981, leaving Jerry Dammers as the only original member to decline.
"It's the right time to do it [reunite] - we talked about it at 25 but we weren't together enough," Hall told NME. "Now we're all getting on and it feels comfortable again."
As for Dammers declining to join the band, Hall said: "The door remains open to him."
The Specials earlier this year played a one-off "secret show" at the UK's Bestival festival under the title Terry Hall and Friends.
There's no word yet if the Specials tour could make its way to North America but the rumours are already flying. Here are the dates so far:
4/22 Newcastle, UK - Newcastle Academy
4/23 Sheffield, UK - Sheffield Academy
4/25 Birmingham, UK - Birmingham Academy
4/26 Birmingham, UK - Birmingham Academy
4/28 Glasgow, UK - Glasgow Academy
5/3 Manchester, UK - Manchester Apollo
5/6 London, UK - London Brixton Academy
5/7 London, UK - London Brixton Academy
The Specials "Ghost Town"
Front-man Terry Hall, Neville Staple, Sir Horace Gentleman, Roddy Radiation, Lynval Golding and John Bradbury are all back onboard for the group's first tour since 1981, leaving Jerry Dammers as the only original member to decline.
"It's the right time to do it [reunite] - we talked about it at 25 but we weren't together enough," Hall told NME. "Now we're all getting on and it feels comfortable again."
As for Dammers declining to join the band, Hall said: "The door remains open to him."
The Specials earlier this year played a one-off "secret show" at the UK's Bestival festival under the title Terry Hall and Friends.
There's no word yet if the Specials tour could make its way to North America but the rumours are already flying. Here are the dates so far:
4/22 Newcastle, UK - Newcastle Academy
4/23 Sheffield, UK - Sheffield Academy
4/25 Birmingham, UK - Birmingham Academy
4/26 Birmingham, UK - Birmingham Academy
4/28 Glasgow, UK - Glasgow Academy
5/3 Manchester, UK - Manchester Apollo
5/6 London, UK - London Brixton Academy
5/7 London, UK - London Brixton Academy
The Specials "Ghost Town"
