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Precious is a new-style weepie but one that is much more bracing than depressing
Precious
Theatre
Ian McKellen is captivating throughout. He delights in the play’s gallows humour, yet is also maudlin and poignant
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Theatre
Slight quibbles notwithstanding, this will set the West End’s stock riding high
Enron
Utterly, utterly brilliant. You really are in for a treat
Though 'Trilogy' has won rave reviews, I personally found myself exasperated after about an hour
We went on a quiet sunday evening and the food was excellent, but the experience let down by the service and ambiance
London,
David Smyth's rating
Reader rating
Description: The late 1970s and early 1980s Coventry 2-Tone innovators play their ska-pop hits.
Phone: 0844844 4748
Website: www.hammersmithapollo.net
Email: info@hammersmithapollo.net
Trains: Tube: Hammersmith 
Extra info: Pub
Having reunited to mark their 30th anniversary, The Specials toured in the spring, generating ecstatic reviews. Now they’re doing it again, firming up their place alongside Blur and Pixies as a rare band responsible for a reformation that is neither embarrassing nor half-hearted.
The obvious flaw is the absence of founder and songwriter Jerry Dammers, excluded after a public row that still smarts. When guitarist Lynval Golding generously dedicated A Message to You Rudy to both new keyboardist Nikolaj Torp Larsen and Dammers, ever-biting singer Terry Hall couldn’t resist adding: “It’s nice to work with a keyboard player who doesn’t have a god complex.”
The amazingly exuberant crowd seemed obvlivious to tension. Consisting largely of former skinheads who are now just bald, gazing down from the balcony at these pogoing domes was like staring into the machine that picks the Lottery numbers.
Hall, the only static presence, skulked and sneered and still sounded exactly the same as he did on The Specials’ brief but stellar run of hits between 1979 and 1981.
The rest of the band did a decent impression of the bus in Speed that can’t move below 50mph. All those sharp suits swiftly became bare chests and flapping shirt tails.
The music remained impeccable, speedy ska bounce-alongs that, thanks to angry lyrics about crime, the rat race and teen pregnancy, still sounded freshly penned. If they can skip the usual inferior new material, they will have done a fine job of maintaining one of British pop’s most special legacies.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
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If you thought the sound quality at Hammersmith was bad, you should have been at the Brixton Academy !!
- Paxton, N17
A great gig but as Nick as mentioned the sound quality was poor during several songs particularly during Ghost Town. At nearly£40 a go this is not good enough - the promoters and venue must take responibility for this.
- Free Nelson Mandela, Chiswick
Yeah, it was a good gig, but there were numerous feedback problems that ruined some of the songs. Terry Hall as laid back as ever (verging on the disinterested!) but, sound quality problems apart, the performance was appreciated by a crowd with an average age that must have been well into the 40s! Just wish they could play longer than an hour and 20 mins though ...
- Nick, Battersea
