The Beat With Dave Wakeling at Hangar 34 (30 May ’23)

My ticket

This show was a real 80’s nostalgia-fest as I went to Hangar 34 to see The Beat With Dave Wakeling, supported by Bow Wow Wow Feat. Annabella Lwin.

I had the pleasure of meeting up with my old university mate Phil in The Lion Tavern before the gig for an hour, the first time I think we’d met in person since before COVID.

I had a lovely pint of Arizona from Phoenix and then a perfectly pleasant Cascade brewed by Saltaire as we caught up on many things family, football and music.

I then headed to the Baltic Triangle, for what I was surprised to realise was my first ever show at Hangar 34, as I just assumed I’d been there before. However, my second visit is coming this summer.

Beatles mural near the venue

My history with the bands

I got to know both of the acts on the bill in real time, as they had hit records in the early 1980’s, hearing them on Radio 1, reading about them in Smash Hits and seeing them on Top Of The Pops.

The Beat formed in Birmingham in 1978, led by twin vocalists Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger, reaching the Top 10 with their very first single, a cover of Tears Of A Clown by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles in January 1980, when they were on 2 Tone Records.

Debut LP I Just Can’t Stop It entered the charts at #3 four months later, as 1980 saw them have three more Top 10 hits and another that got to #22.

They only made the Top 40 twice more, however, although second album Wha’ppen? also hit #3 in May 1981, and third LP Special Beat Service also went Top 30 in October 1982.

The band broke up in 1983, with members evolving into Fine Young Cannibals and General Public, with rival reformations emerging on each side of the pond, fronted by each of the two vocalists.

Tragedy has struck in recent years, with saxophonist Saxa, Ranking Roger and drummer Everett Morton all passing away in the space of four years.

Bow Wow Wow first breached the Top 40 in August 1980 with C·30 C·60 C·90 Go, their first single, initially released on cassette only. They had only been formed earlier that year when manager Malcolm McLaren prised the original Adam And The Ants’ backing band away from Adam himself, with the then thirteen-year-old Annabella Lwin later being added as lead singer.

I probably didn’t become aware of them until early 1982 though, which was when they made the Top 30 for the first time with Go Wild In The Country, appearing on TOTP as it went as high as #7.

Their third and final Top 40 chart entry in the UK was I Want Candy that peaked at #9 in June 1982. Their debut album and a cash-in compilation both made the Top 30, but the second album was less successful.

Lwin was fired in September 1983, reportedly learning the news in the pages of the NME as tensions mounted in the band.

Lwin’s solo career didn’t hit the heights of the band’s fleeting success, while the rest of the band became Chiefs Of Relief for a while.

Various line-ups reformed over the years, but Annabella was the only original member on show this night.

I took a long time to add any of either band to my collection, getting the double I Want Candy – Anthology compilation from Action Records for £8.75 in June 2008.

It wasn’t until March 2016 that I acquired anything by the headliners, the two-disc You Just Can’t Beat It – The Best Of from HMV on Bond Street for just a fiver, also snapping up Diamond Dogs by David Bowie for the same price, and The Coral’s new Distance Inbetween album.

The support act

I was in time to overhear a conversation about the recent Sparks gig I had been to at the Phil as I visited the loo before things kicked off – you can read my review of that here.

Onto the stage came just guitarist Wild Bill Woodcock, complete with wild bright yellow hair and beard, and stand-up drummer John Montgomery, with the latter having great dreads, and great style, both visually and aurally.

Bow Wow Wow

After a couple of minutes, they were joined by Annabella in a Bob Marley t-shirt and she launched into C·30 C·60 C·90 Go, a cracking way to kick things off.

Another favourite followed in the form of Louis Quatorze from Your Cassette Pet, their tape-only debut mini-album from November 1980.

Lwin often tried to get the crowd to clap along during the songs, finally succeeding to some degree before W.O.R.K. (N.O. Nah No! No! My Daddy Don’t), their second single from 1981.

Next up was the classic Go Wild In The Country, which obviously went down very well.

The Man Mountain was introduced as “the only ballad we ever did”, which apparently hit #2 in Yugoslavia. Wikipedia also says it hit the Top 10 in the Netherlands and Flemish Belgium.

Annabella Lwin

Annabella said of Your Cassette Pet’s I Want My Baby On Mars that she “sang this when I was fourteen”, saying that the tape release was “a great concept by Malcolm McLaren”.

There was still plenty of time for more old favourites, such as See Jungle! (Jungle Boy).

After a cover of Bob Marley’s Cheer Up, they did Do You Wanna Hold Me? which Annabella introduced as a “big single in America”, which is stretching the truth slightly as I think it only reached #77, although it was another top 10 hit in Benelux.

The final number was their other Top 10 hit in the UK, I Want Candy, which generated a pretty big singalong, and was a fitting way to end a thoroughly entertaining support slot.

Between bands, the club DJ spun a load of 2 Tone-related songs, including The Selecter, The Specials and Madness, and their influences like Prince Buster and Toots And The Maytals, with the woman stood next to me cutting a serious rug at times!

The main event

The Beat emerged to the sounds of Harry J. All Stars’ The Liquidator, a reggae instrumental that hit the Top 10 in November 1969.

The set was built around their debut album, with ten of its twelve songs being performed, alongside a smattering of others.

The Beat

After Rough Rider (originally by Jamaicans The Four Gees in 1967, rapidly covered by Prince Buster), the excellent Twist & Crawl was up next.

Hands Off… She’s Mine, the second of their five Top 10 hits in the UK got the crowd going as toaster Antonee First Class continued to lead proceedings, with Wakeling throwing in the odd borderline-cheesy song intro.

Then came a medley of The Staple Singers’ I’ll Take You There and The Liquidator, their walk-on music.

Antonee incurred the wrath of some of the audience by revealing his red ties, giving a shout-out to Ray Clemence and Kenny Dalglish, later having a quick burst of You’ll Never Walk Alone booed a little.

The sound was nice and full, with the sax (by Shane?) not being overused, and Esteban Flores’s keyboards rounding out the sound.

I wonder how profitable this tour can be as they weren’t playing a big venue, and there were eight of them on stage.

Dave Wakeling

The rest of the band were drummer Fritz Zar from Los Angeles, bassist Louie Casimiro and Dave’s daughter Chloe on barely audible backing vocals, as well as the guitarist from Bow Wow Wow (now sporting a pork pie hat).

Can’t Get Used To Losing You was dedicated to the late Saxa, Roger and Everett, with Dave adding a whistling solo at its end.

This song was written by the legendary duo of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, first being recorded by Andy Williams in 1963, also being sung by the likes of Martha And The Vandellas, Julie London and Renegade Soundwave!

It was especially nice to hear the Whine & Grine/Stand Down Margaret segue, with the former being a Prince Buster song and the latter an anti-Thatcher diatribe.

A punky Two Swords was introduced by Dave saying he “can’t believe we have to do it again”, relating to lines such as:

“I’ve never been one for the punch-up
But look I really hate those Nazis.”

Then came the rambunctious Ranking Full Stop, with the main set ending with an extended Mirror In The Bathroom.

The Beat

They took very little encouragement to return to the stage, with Antonee leading some of the crowd in one of several “rude boys! Rude girls scream!” shouts.

The encore was just two songs, starting with the iconic Tears Of A Clown, originally done by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles and taken into the Top 10 by The Beat.

Their very final number was Jackpot, the closing track on their debut LP, originally by Jamaican harmony group The Pioneers.

My t-shirt

It was a decent night’s worth of nostalgia from a pair of bands who can tend to be forgotten at the expense of some of their contemporaries.

Tonight’s t-shirt

I went for my pale blue Talking Heads tee, with there being a few t-shirts for the headliners in evidence.

Others I spotted were Black Flag, Sparks, 2 Tone, Tubeway Army, Lou Reed, Joy Division, Killing Joke and (yes, really) Shakin’ Stevens, as well as a few Lambretta and Fred Perry tops.

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Playlist

Here is much of the music from the night on Spotify: