The Selecter, Nottingham, 21/11/15 – Tanya Russell Music News Music Reviews by Editor - November 21, 2015November 21, 20150 Immediately into the bouncy brassy beat of THE AVENGERS, The Selector do what they do better than anyone else, vibrant, dance inducing ska that gets the crowd skanking. Shimmering sounds of sunshine flood the auditorium as the band launch into FUCK ART LET’S DANCE and Pauline Black and the rest of the room are high stepping and smiling as The Selecter warm up this very wintry night. 3 MINUTE HERO has the crowd chanting along with Black and the band’s passionate performance and punching the air with enthusiasm. Introducing political protest song LONDON’S BURNING with an indictment of bedroom taxes, the band sing songs of social sigificance to a skanking crowd that are bouncing to the brassy brilliance of a band that have always been in the iconic vanguard of music that matters with lyrics of social justice and action for the underdog. The sinister sound of BREAKDOWNS has the audience swaying along to the beat as Black performs with a fearsome ferocity that lives up to the legend emblazoned on her leather jacket of .’art comes first’. Arthur ‘Gaps’ Hendrickson reads a list of victims from a black book solemnly. Racing riffs underlie CELEBRATE THE BULLET, and the crowd raise their arms in the air and sing along with Black’s as ever superb vocal. Announcing that the next song is for the rude girls, The Selecter perform OPEN GOAL with it’s infectious melody and dance inducing rythmn. Black then whirls around the stage like a tornado and mock fights members of the band as red lights illuminate the crowd during DANGER. Sunshine sparkled symphony SEE DEM A COME from the latest album has the crowd dancing and shows that The Selecter’s latest songs fit well into their catalogue of classics. Black reiterates this before playing a recent single BOXFRESH by explaining that a band should play new material as it offers variety to their fans as well as performing older anthems. The superb song supports her statement perfectly. Gaps then struts the stage, smilingly performing IT NEVER WORKED OUT as the crowd dance in unison to the swaying beat. A cover of Patti Smith’s BECAUSE THE NIGHT is a great version which melds the genres to make a sing a long ska tune that showcases Black’s beautiful vocals. Following this, the rolling rythmn and rapid fire lyrics of TRAIN TO SKAVILLE has the whole room igniting into a ska fuelled dance off. I feel like my own dance is pretty cool but the guy next to me is able to do an awesome boneless drop to the floor before becoming reanimated and diving into the air like a demented kangaroo. Essentially, we are having a great deal of fun, the pace of which obviously doesn’t slow during JAMES BOND. A sea of skanking continues to MISSING WORDS and everyone in the crowd is friendly and happy. This is music and music unites. ON MY RADIO creates a molten eruption of crazed skanking and call and response that turns the whole room into an incendiary collection of twisting and twirling fans. This continues with alacrity throughout TOO MUCH PRESSURE. An encore involving much crowd participation keeps the positive vibe going. CARRY GO, EVERDAY, MURDA! has everyone in the crowd doing mouth talking mimes and the medley that follows has everyone dancing into a joyous fury again. SECRET LOVE has the crowd skanking, smiling and sharing a fantastically good time. Ending with 667, THE SELECTER has certainly shown Nottingham an extremely good time tonight! As the cascading carnival sound has the audience pogoing passionately, I realise that I will not be staying at Rock City to dance the night away as I previously planned because I am now bloody shattered but what a way to exhaust yourself! The Selecter are definitely a band to put on your must see list…just make sure you bring your dancing shoes