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The Specials
supported by Pocket Billiards and Hanni El-Khatib
Saturday the 27th of August

Describe in a tweet: Coventry Two-Tone legends make triumphant Belfast return. Or Shane Meadows begins shooting This Is England 2011. It's hard to say, really ...

What happened: After a hugely successful fortnight of diverse and delectable live music, 2011's Belsonic concludes this evening in typically memorable fashion. Two years since they played St. George's Market on their long-awaited comeback tour, Ska godfathers The Specials emerge to rapturous applause via a lethal one-two dose of 'Do The Dog' and the effortlessly anthemic classic 'Dawning Of A New Era'. Already it's something of a riot: whether it suits their job description or otherwise, virtually everyone is doing "the" Ska dance, vocalists' Terry Hall and Neville Staple's lyrics are passionately rebounded and the atmosphere is truly second-to-none. Trawling through a finely-tuned, practically faultless set of their greatest material, Hall & Co. are at their most commanding on the hectic 'Monkey Man', 'Nite Klub' and the awe-inspiring "moment" that transpires amidst anti-racist singalong, 'Doesn't Make It Alright'.

Not only have these anthems retained their acutely insightful social value for which The Specials are widely recognised for, they somehow seem slightly more prophetic tonight than ever before, i.e. 'Friday Night, Saturday Morning' resonates deeply with today's endemic binge culture, whereas 'Concrete Jungle' calls to mind the recent rioting across the UK. Throw in the thoroughly hectic 'Little Bitch', feel-good highlight 'Enjoy Yourself' and ode to misspent youth par excellence 'Stereotype' and Belsonic may have just witnessed its finest performance to date. In the end, with a hairs-on-the-back-of-the-neck encore of the inimitable 'Ghost Town' and 'You're Wondering Now', it's clear both The Specials and the thousands in their wake are overjoyed by what's just went down.

Enjoy Yourself: Not a single lull, dud or misplaced moment in an unbeatable set of seventeen classic songs. Also, witnessing the innumerable old school fans reuniting for what is surely the Ska equivalent of the Second Coming.

You're Wondering Now: The noted absence of chief songwriter Jerry Dammers remains a mild distraction to the glory. But as I say ... the Ska equivalent of the Second Coming.

Rating: 9/10