Britain’s city of culture for 2021 is rightly celebrating a musical movement that still carries a potent message
Interviewed a couple of years ago, the lead singer of The Specials, Terry Hall, was asked what he remembered most fondly about the two-tone era, when the band’s home city of Coventry hosted the most innovative music scene in Britain. “We were doing something that wasn’t in London,” responded Mr Hall who, rather shockingly, is now in his 60s. “It was a sense of pride in where we were.”
Fittingly then, one of the most inspiring periods in postwar youth culture is to be given pride of place during Coventry’s forthcoming city of culture 2021 celebrations. Covid has delayed festivities until May. But when they do begin, it was revealed this month that the programme of events will include the first major exhibition on the lives and legacies of the two-tone era. There will also be a three-day music event curated by Mr Hall.
