The Specials
- Butts SU Building, with Gods Toys, May 25th 1979
- Tiffanys, with The Selecter and Dexys Midnight Runners, 1979
- Festival Against Racism, Butts Stadium, June 20 1981
The Specials product of Jerry Dammers incredible creative vision, commitment and artistic integrity. Respect!
Brilliant again!! Many thanks for these photos. Memories of the SU building as our canteen when on day release at the Butts (engineering apprenticeship). Wasn’t at this gig but saw Dexys there about the same time, all black and Dockside look, very powerful in that small venue. Jerry and Chris out of Gods Toys lived just up Albany Rd so there was a connection there. Again great work and so chuffed you have shared them. A real social document of the time. Cheers Andy G.
absolutely brilliant shots mate-
the whole site is superb, but being a Specials nut, these are really top draw stuff, its great seeing the images after all this time. Have you any nmore Specials? Keep up the good work and as said above the whole site is a real social document of a project. well done.
Thanks. The shots from the Tiffanys and final Butts Stadium gigs should go up over the next couple of weeks.
Mark
CCFC – SPECIALS!
Thanks Marko for sharing these rare gems from a time when music meant something!
Cheers
Paul
No probs.
Like the blog.
http://thespatialsaka.blogspot.com
Mark
Hi Mark
Some great photos- I am under the stage (RHS) in a shot of Roddy Radiation from the Anti-Racism gig (pic #42). It was the first big show I ever worked for £12 and a 12″ Ghost Town single (which I still have).
I and two others went onto start a band (Axiom Branches/Bright Red Band) and then later a sound company “Animal Music”. I have another career now but for 18years went on to tour about as a sound engineer. (King, The Housemartins, The Primitives, The Proclaimers, Everything But The Girl to name a few.)
Thanks for the photos- too many memories I arrived in Coventry in 1979 and know that I was at a few of those gigs you feature as well as playing those venues in a band a few years later myself.
Many thanks,
Steve
Message for Steve Bishop please contact me if poss ? You old mate Come Out !
I did a lot free work for Steve Bishop and the Animal Music PA systems. I got to see some great bands along the way. My fave were the House Martins, we worked with them a lot. Glastonbury what a great one that was.
Photo 1 from the Butts concert of an unknown band, is, I firmly believe, Ship’s Crew, a hastily assembled combo, formed by Urge, Swinging Cats and Special AKA guitarist, John Shipley. It was their one and only gig.