Ska Nights with the English Beat!

Bodhi, GrumpyGus, and RogerTango met at Spuds for some really great fish & chips to get in the mood, then off they went on a ride downtown to check out the show. Upon arriving at the venue, they met SafetyEd, who was perfectly dressed for the occasion in a vintage 'Mod' suit, skinny tie and all (more on this later!)

The show started late, and was further complicated by the fact that there would be no less than two opening acts (normally not a problem, but when you have to get up at stupid o' clock to go to work the next day, this is less than appreciated). They were, admittedly, good opening acts, which complimented the headliner. The first act was a solo performer who billed himself as "a one-man ska band". We weren't sure where the band was, as it was just a guy with an acoustic guitar. He played well, and the crowd was appreciative, but, as SafetyEd pointed out, "he really looks like he should be on a PBS children's show singing to a Muppet!". SafetyEd was right; this guy was kind of like Raffi meets the Wiggles. At least his set was short.

The next act was a ska/hip-hop act. Once again, a talented bunch, but it's getting late; may we see the English Beat now, please? Our patience was finally rewarded when the English beat finally showed up about 10:30pm. The only original member there was founder Dave Wakeling, but he chose his fellow musicians well, and they launched into a rollicking set of EB favourites.

As previously mentioned, SafetyEd was dressed to the nines with his bespoke Mod suit, and he proved without a doubt that, as ZZ Top once said, "women go crazy about a sharp-dressed man". He was quite rightly chuffed when during a break in the action, a beautiful blonde walked right up to him and made it a point to tell him how good he looked! Needless to say, the rest of the Westenders with him were bemused and admittedly just a tad jealous. Guess the rest of us should spruce up our appearances!

All in all, it was a fun night, and a great time was had by all!