THE SPECIALS ANNOUNCE SUPPORTS 
LIME CORDIALE TO OPEN AUSTRALIAN SHOWS
NEWMATICS TO OPEN IN AUCKLAND!

Get ready to have some fun come April, with the announcement that Lime Cordiale will be supporting The Specials’ at their 3 Australian Bluesfest sideshows while The Newmatics will be starting the party in Auckland.

LIME CORDIALE

Hailing from Sydney’s Northern Beaches, this Sydney Conservatorium of Music trained quartet made their mark in 2011. After playing over 60 shows across the city, Lime Cordiale were awarded with much recognition, including a ‘Best Song’ nomination at the SMAC Awards, a #1 spot on triple j’s Unearthed Chart, Radar Radio’s find of the month title & a win in The Landsdowne Band Competition.

Their fun, upbeat sound has already shared the stage with acts including Bluejuice, Icehouse, Empire of the Sun, Sparkadia, The Jezabels and the UK's Cosmo Jarvis.

And now, they’ll be bringing their distinct sound and strong style to Melbourne and Adelaide for the first time, as well as a whole new Sydney audience, when they open for none other than Britain’s, The Specials.

Tickets to The Specials, with special guests Lime Cordiale, are on sale now!

THE NEWMATICS

The Newmatics came out of a fertile post-punk early 80s Auckland music scene that also spawned Blam Blam Blam and the Screaming Meemees. Taking their cues from ska, r’n’b and soul, they were a fearsome live act, but managed to release only nine songs (including their enduring legacy Riot Squad - synonymous now with the 1981 Springbok Tour). After their split in 1983 (allegedly caused by a disagreement over haircuts), Mark Clare took up acting (he’s the bungy jumper in the classic Instant Kiwi ad), Kelly Rogers co-founded Rialto Cinemas and Ben Staples played with UK indie band The Woodentops. They reformed in 1998 and have been growing their hair ever since.

BRITISH SKA HEROES, THE SPECIALS,
RETURN TO AUSTRALIA IN 2012

"It floated on a tide of what was going on in society. If you think of songs that are expressly political like Robert Wyatt's Shipbuilding, did its political content keep it from getting to the top of the charts and did Ghost Town sneak up there because it wasn't overtly political? What's being expressed in that song? Nothing's happening, everything's going down the pan, it's that classic no future, nihilistic punk thing. Ghost Town might well have been the only punk number one." 
Billy Bragg on The Specials’ Ghost Town

In 1981, Britain was in a state of crisis; unemployment was rife and the racially diverse inner cities were revolting against systematic ghettoisation at the hands of a Tory government.  It was into this arena that The Specials released their doom-laden single, Ghost Town. A song that resonated so acutely with the youth of the day that it became THE anthem of urban decay and a future lost under Thatcher’s rule.

Thirty years later, with Thatcher on her deathbed and the inner cites of England once more ablaze, The Specials’ music has never sounded more vital.

Returning to Australia in April 2012, The Specials will start with a headline appearance at Adelaide’s Thebarton Theatre on Tuesday 3 April before heading to the Palace Theatre in Melbourne on Thursday 5 April. The tour then heads to Byron Bay for an appearance at Bluesfest on Friday 6 April before finishing up at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney on Saturday 7 April.

Forming in Coventry, on the outskirts of Birmingham, these ska revivalists took their danceable rocksteady beats with the energy and attitude of the punk era of the late 1970s in which they began, and combined them with an informed political and social stance. It was this genius juxtaposition of feverish ska rhythms and downtrodden melancholic melodies and lyrics that told a story of a generation who had been deemed surplus to requirements by their government.

Three decades on, in April 2009, when The Specials kicked off their sold out 30 Anniversary tour in the UK, nobody could have realised just how incredible these live shows would be, and the utterly amazing reaction of fans around the world. The audiences were packed with music lovers who had waited since 1981 to revisit this stunning band alongside Specials ‘virgins’ who had never had the chance to see them live. When the curtains dropped and Terry Hall, Lynyal Golding, Neville Staple, Roddy Byers, Horace Panter and John Bradbury exploded on stage to ‘Do The Dog,’ dancehalls across the country erupted with new and old stomping as if their lives depended on it. 2012 sees a new show from the band, but expect all the classics we know and love.

Don’t miss The Specials’ return to Australia this April. 

TICKETS ON SALE 9AM, TUESDAY 29 NOVEMBER