The Beat: Dance Crazed Too UK Tour

The Beat are playing Town Hall on Saturday 17 October, as part of their Dance Crazed Too UK tour. They're not coming alone: The Selecter and DJ Rhoda Dakar are on the bill too, so it's a full night of two-tone ska rather than a single band. The Beat formed here in Birmingham back in 1978, and their sound pulls from ska, pop, soul, reggae and punk rock. They're described as a two-tone ska band heading home on this tour, so the Birmingham date is a homecoming of sorts.

There's a bit of a story to the name, too. In the late seventies and early eighties, two bands called The Beat were active at the same time, and they eventually agreed to use different names in different parts of the world. The English two-tone ska band became The English Beat in North America and The British Beat in Australia, while the American power-pop band Paul Collins' Beat kept the name in Europe. It's the English band that's playing here, and they're bringing The Selecter along with them.

The show starts at 19:45 at the Town Hall in Victoria Square, B3 3DQ, and tickets are £45.