The Beat - 6 May 2023

I decided last minute to see The Beat at the local theatre based really on a couple of their singles that I liked from the late seventies and found a single seat available at was pretty much a sold out gig. I knew that the Beat's vocalist Ranking Roger was no more but as his son had replaced him on vocals I thought that would be OK. I hadn't realised that the original drummer and sax player were also no more and that an original guitarist had his own version of the band based in the States. So what is left is probably more of a tribute band although that information is nowhere to be found even on the internet where the history of the band is referred to widely in the promotional material for the tour. Having said that the band were OK and the sax player was outstanding so the sound came across as pretty authentic although Ranking Junior's vocals left me unmoved. The audience had come for the memories and the dad dancing so they didn't care. I really enjoyed the long version of 'Mirror in the Bathroom' and one or two other tracks were good but overall I felt a little compromised by the line-up and the audience.