Twenty two years ago, Coventrians prepared for a monumental event as the Sky Blues set off to Wembley to play in the FA Cup Final and tonight, the feeling were the same for many of the 8,105 sell out crowd as they made their way into the Jaguar Exhbition Hall at the Ricoh Arena.
Tonight, there was no football although the atmosphere was everything as good as that halcyon day in 1987, it was to welcome Coventry band The Specials back to a stage in Coventry for the first time since June 1981.
Described as Coventry's "Musical Gift To The World", Two Tone when it launched in 1979 brought ska, to a whole new and countless generations since. A mix of reggae and punk all mastered by a band made up of former pupils of Sidney Stringer, Binley Park and King Henry's and Bablake, their songs of the time which may not have gone down too well with some Top Of The Pops producers but not only did the The Specials, give the dance floor back to the ordinary man in the street, they unified black and white youth through music and kick started a fashion scene which is still going strong today.
Such was and still is the band's influence even thirty years later that The Specials are synonymous with Coventry in the way The Beatles are with Liverpool. For two glorious years when times were hard and Britain was not at its best, Coventry was "The In Place To Be", something Coventry City Council have never quite managed and tonight the Ricoh Arena was for many the only place to be.
Really, the main Ricoh Arena bowl should have been employed as the venue as demand for the tickets was immense but instead, the crowd were shoehorned into the Exhibition Hall.
Although not the massive buzz that had been seen at the opening gig at Newcastle or the first night in Birmingham, there was still a good atmosphere amongst a crowd, which included Noel Gallagher and England Rugby boss Martin Johnson.
The biggest cheer, support band The Ripps got was when they announced they were from Coventry but by 8.30pm, DJ Trevor Evans and Felix Hall, son of Terry, had the crowd warmed up and ready for curtain up.
The crowd went mad especially down the front as the white curtain lifted at 8.36pm and The Specials were back on stage in Coventry.
Picture by Simon Ward
The General - Jerry Dammers may not have been on keyboard for his former troops push over the hill but six out of the seven original members plus the highly adept Nik Torp launched straight into "Do The Dog"
With Terry Hall's voice holding out after an infection had forced one of the nights at Brixton Academy to be cancelled, "Dawning Of A New Era", "Gangsters" and It's Up To You all were lapped up by the band and audience.
Enigmatic bass player Sir Horace Panter said afterwards, that looking at the crowd enjoying themselves was "an amazing experience". It was a view shared by Lynval and Nik who both tremendously enjoyed the gig and the reception they received.
Terry Hall, said it was nice to be home and got a huge cheer before the band launch into a magnificent "Rat Race" quickly followed by the song for the Bouncers: "Monkey Man"
"Blank Expression" and then for the heavily perspiring audience "Too Hot" went down well as did "It Doesn't Make It Alright" and "Concrete Jungle", two songs which perfectly summed up Coventry in 1980 and still have meaning today.
Things slowed down with "Friday Night, Saturday Morning" and "Stereotype" which gave Neville Staple whose book 'Original Rude Boy' is now on Prime Minister's Gordon Brown's bookself, a chance to show off his finely tuned toasting skills.
As usual the energy that the band were famous for came through and by this time, Lynval Golding was starting to lose his voice. "Man At C&A", ended with City supporters singing the "Sky Blue Song".
"A Message To You Rudy" was superb and was followed by "Do Nothing, "Hey Little Rich Girl " and the anti-disco song "Nite Klub".
"I won't dance in a club like this" might be the lyrics but the dancing and singing of every word of every song continued through "You're Wondering Now and the haunting "Ghost Town"
By now, we were into the encore. "Too Much Too Young" was followed by the excellent, "Longshot Kick De Bucket", Luquidator and Skinhead Moonstomp before we all were told to "Enjoy Ourselves".
Enjoy ourselves, we certainly had. This was one of the best ninety minutes ever seen at the Ricoh and we only hope that we don't have to wait so long next time to see them back in Coventry again.