What a great day. Met up with my brother Matthew and friends Robbie and Kelvin at 1.15pm at our local. Settling for my usual Strongbow, Robbie and Kelvin are straight onto double vodka's. Lift at 2pm from Robbie's father the 5 mile trip to Pontypridd - home to Tom Jones and one of my (2) sporting heroes, Neil Jenkins. We go to the Skinny Dog. Hour later my brother Richard, and my best mate Dean turn up. The jukebox is on and some great tunes are played over the next 3 hours, during which Kelvin gets totally bolloxed (it was his birthday) and, despite having a gig ticket, has to get a taxi back home. 5 of us get a taxi the (approx) 3 mile journey to Porth and a club a couple of hundred yards from the venue. Few beers, and all end up on vodka or Jack Daniels.
So we eventually leave and go to the venue. Small bar, but Strongbow cans at £2.30 a go is fine by me - don't normally drink at gigs these days -ie O2 rip off venues. Bit of a strange venue - capacity given as 350, with tables and chairs at the back, and an awful small cobbled brick type floor, with a strange drainage type system going straight down the middle of the sitting/ dancefloor area.
Anyway, local Ska band 'Tattsyrup' come on. I saw these about 18 months ago (at a venue a few hundreds yards away) and they are great and im skanking. Some great Madness/Specials/Beat tunes. Very instrumental and the young girl on sax is great. They dont play that often, but i'm going to make an effort to watch these when given the chance. Talked to the singer after the gig and he's a good bloke.
So on come The Beat, around 9.35. I had been most disappointed by the crowd all evening - i didnt want it packed as i wanted some room to boogie, but thankfully some had moved forward by the time the main event started. We then had the hour and 15 mins or so of great music. I didnt stop, and the Tattysyrup band (including the great sax player), were going great guns on the (uneven) dancefloor. Ranking Roger is a great front man, Morton is great on the drums and I love watching, and the sound, of a sax player. 'Mirror in the Bathroom' gets the best reception of the evening, as usual, but 'Best Friend' and several others like 'Jackpot' are mine. Only disappointment was that they didnt do 'Walk Away',which is a great tune. Always a lot of females at Beat gigs, so my height came into use when Ranking threw his shirt into the crowd and i caught it like a rugby ball when i was a lock in the old days !.
So we left after the gig and found a chinese around 11.30. Plenty to eat, then Robbie's father picks us up around 12. We get into the car and he (Robbie's father) says " what the fuck did you lot do to Kelvin earlier? I saw him earlier (after he had a taxi back home) Im 66 years old and never seen someone so pissed in my life". Much amusement in the car.
The Beat are fucking brilliant. I'd already booked to see them in Cardiff (3rd time there in less than 2 years - Stranglers?), Bristol and Gloucester in December. Suppose its difficult to compare them to bands of other types, but i'd watch them any night over any other band. Great fun.
The Beat @ The Factory, Porth, Rhondda - 10.6.12
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The Beat @ The Factory, Porth, Rhondda - 10.6.12
Last edited by The Strangler on 12 Jun 2012, 08:49, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Beat @ The Factory, Porth, Rhondda - 10.6.12
SKA music is cracking innit??
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Re: The Beat @ The Factory, Porth, Rhondda - 10.6.12
Yep !Hammersmith1982 wrote:SKA music is cracking innit??
Rugby Union is not only the greatest team sport in the world on the field, but without a shadow of a doubt, is the greatest team sport in the world off the field. Nigel Owens.
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Re: The Beat @ The Factory, Porth, Rhondda - 10.6.12
Good review mate.
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Re: The Beat @ The Factory, Porth, Rhondda - 10.6.12
Nice one, Brian.
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Re: The Beat @ The Factory, Porth, Rhondda - 10.6.12
Nice Review...
Cheers
David
Cheers
David
Anyone seen Sir Winkler...