Get Loaded, Braehead, Glasgow 27/08/05

Get Loaded at the Braehead complex was more or less a big Madchester reunion, featuring The Happy Mondays, The Farm, The I Can’t Believe Its Not The Stone Roses, and various real Roses and Inspiral Carpets Dj-ing inbetween times, all in the arena. However, outside on the riverside, they’d also set up a big marquee for a parallel Two-Tone reunion, featuring Pauline Black’s Selecter, with ex-Bodysnatcher Rhoda Dakar bolted on, and ex-Special Neville Staple and his band of Specials-a-likes, with the added bonus of Terry Hall Dj-ing. The Beat, or bits of The Beat, had been booked to play too, but that got cancelled, so someone looked up Yellow Pages under ska bands : Glasgow and we got a call.



My thoughts on the Two-Tone nostalgia circuit are well-documented elsewhere, so I will not reheat the same old rants, but its fair to say that we did not approach this gig with a great deal of enthusiasm. However.it was actually a rather good night. We played to a full house (tent) of people hell-bent on jumping around, and had a great time. Our set had been constructed around the fast songs, with wee interludes of even faster songs, and for a change, the Two-Tone massive did not seem to mind that we had no cover versions to offer them. And the headlining bands, bolstered by guest appearances by the aforementioned Miss Dakar and Mr Hall, were much better than expected too, and the crowd generally went mental for it. People were getting turned away at the door and then coming round the band door and begging to be smuggled in. Which reminds me, Taff, you big welsh tosser, you owe me beer.

Highlight: Crowd with hands in the air for Doc Skazoid, then chatting to Terry Hall well, sort of mumbling to each other while our respective missuses talked shopping and getting to autograph someone’s bosom

Lowlight: None that I can think of.