The Specials - 2011 European tour

Voila les dates de la tournée 2011 :

15 Sept - Amsterdam, Paradiso
16 Sept - Copenhagen, Vega
18 Sept - Stockholm, Circus
19 Sept - Berlin, Astra
21 Sept - Munich, Backstage
22 Sept - Milan, Alcatraz
24 Sept - Cologne, E Werk
25 Sept - Hamburg, Grosse Freiheit
27 Sept - Paris, Olympia
28 Sept - Brussels, Ancienne Belgique
11 Oct - Wolverhampton, Civic Hall
12 Oct - Wolverhampton, Civic Hall
14 Oct - Manchester, Apollo
16 Oct - Hull, Arena
18 Oct - Glasgow, Secc
21 Oct - Nottingham, Arena
23 Oct - Plymouth, Pavilions
24 Oct - Cheltenham, Racecourse
25 Oct - Brighton, Centre
27 Oct - Bournemouth, International Centre
28 Oct - Cardiff, International Arena
29 Oct - Coventry, Ricoh Arena
03 Nov - London, Alexandra Palace

Dis donc, ca sert à quoi que Yakipo se décarcasse à faire de beaux visuels s'ils ne sont même pas repris ici! Admirez la sobriété de sa composition :

Mmmmhhh je vois que l'Europe ici s'arrete a Milan!!!

Toute facon j'y serai pas alle...

Citation :

I founded the Specials, and now they've excluded meI wanted to be a part of the reunion tour, but my former bandmates cut me out, says Jerry Dammers


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Jerry Dammers The Guardian, Wednesday 4 March 2009 Article historyAlexis Petridis interviewed my former bandmates John Bradbury, Lynval Golding and Terry Hall, who are intending to take part in what they claim to be "The Specials' 30th Anniversary Tour" ('It's something I wanted again in my life', 20 February).

I was the Specials' founder, main songwriter and keyboard player. Referring to a statement I had made outlining how I had repeatedly been excluded from the proposed reunion, Petridis writes that these three "dispute pretty much everything the band's founder now has to say about the reunion".

He reports Terry's words: "I've read Jerry's statement and I just don't get it ... 'They're trying to kick me out of the band' - not at all mate, not at all."

The fact is that I would not have been invited to the first "reunion" meeting at all had John Bradbury not told me about it. Despite Terry rubbishing the orchestra I currently run, which he had never seen or heard, it was generally agreed to get together and commence rehearsals, by everyone except him.

Shortly after the meeting, however, Lynval Golding phoned me saying that I was not required for the band - "like Bill Wyman from the Stones" were his exact words. Terry's manager circulated emails from which I was excluded. Rehearsals were held without me, and I only managed to attend two - one of which was attended by only four people.

Terry claims that I "wanted to do one date, in Coventry, in front of 30,000 people, at the football stadium. I thought that was a bit of a Take That thing". What I actually suggested to him (at a meeting where he finally agreed that we shouldn't be considering bookings until we had all rehearsed together) was that if rehearsals went well, we could consider a very big date or series of big dates in London, followed by a date at Coventry's Ricoh Arena to celebrate the 30th anniversary. What might happen after that I left open. It was not that I "don't [like] the idea of touring", as he so simply puts it. I was anxious to preserve the status, political effectiveness and legacy of the band for the long term, including recording, rather than risk the diminishing returns of setting out as a flawed nostalgia act in small venues.

Terry appeared to generally agree, but soon after our meeting he said he wouldn't want to play the Ricoh after all. I assumed it was the size of the arena, but on 5 June he sent me another email: "I wasn't complaining about the size of the Ricoh arena (I have played at much bigger), I will not perform at a Coventry festival of who/why/when/whatever. Speaking as someone who grew up there, I don't feel I owe it anything!"

I thought it essential that if we played anywhere it should include Coventry, our home town; but Bradbury thought that I should compromise on Coventry, and I was excluded for the last time. He has not spoken to me since. He did not speak to me "all the way through 2008", as he claimed, and Lynval Golding hardly spoke to me at all. They now intend to play the Ricoh, albeit in a smaller hall at the venue rather than the stadium.

Terry says: "Hand on my heart, this is what I feel is a bit sad for Jerry. He's fucking missing out." Whether that is supposed to be his way of trying to say I'm still welcome in the band would be hard enough to work out if, at our meeting, he had not also said to me of the reunion: "I promise I won't do it without you, hand on heart." Despite all this I never give up hope of some sort of reconciliation.

• Jerry Dammers was the Specials' founder, main songwriter and keyboard player