My first show was in 2015 at the Magic Bag, and it was very cool and memorable. I got to shake Dave's hand after the show--he stayed on stage for 30 min or more after the show chatting, laughing and shaking hands. Last year I saw them in Chicago and they sounded much better. They played deeper cuts (Doors of Your Heart) and sounded more authentic. Great show for date night or for older kids to enjoy. Tremendous!!

First, the venue. Having seen the Beat 4 times previously, 3 of those at Belly Up, this venue is not better for fans. Bigger venue so more tickets, thus more revenue, but it’s big, and with the GA standing set up most fans are much further from the band. Bars were a lot more accessible! More of them, well staffed and no lines. But far less intimate. The English Beat sounded good, but two main things made this the worst of the five shows I’ve seen: 1) the set list was arranged so that they ended on songs with far less energy and tempo. It was hard to believe they ended and had no encore given the last few songs. Jackpot to finish? Anticlimactic. 2) there were two security issues stage left and stage right during the show that seemed to disappoint Dave. Could be he just walked off as I got the sense he didn’t love the energy and didn’t like the security interruption. Either way, not into the venue and the band didn’t deliver as strongly as usual.