Photo Credit Dean Chalkley
The Selecter have announced their 40th Anniversary Tour in 2019 with Special Guest and DJ Rhoda Dakar. The tour starts in Europe covering 7 countries before they head back for 20 dates in the UK & Ireland finishing at London’s o2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire.
The Selecter will be playing an extended, hit-rich set each night with some added live favourites and surprises. They will also be joined for a few songs by vocalist Rhoda Dakar who will also play a DJ Set to open the nights.
The Selecter is led by their iconic frontwoman Pauline Black and co-fronted by original member Arthur ‘Gaps’ Hendrickson. Pauline Black is one of very few women in the 2-Tone scene – she is often referred to as the Queen of Ska. Not only a crucial figure in the music community, Black is also a published author, gifted actress and a celebrated style icon.
The anarchic passion that fuelled Selecter gigs during the original 2-Tone era is still there, except the pair are more driven than ever. Their confidence is sky-high and they’re also writing the best songs of their career, which is saying something given the enduring popularity of hits like “Three Minute Hero,” “Missing Words,” “Too Much Pressure” and “On My Radio.”
The Selecter continue to release new music, charting new albums in the UK in the last couple of years, proving that 2-Tone is still as relevant and important as it was 40 years ago. In October 2017 The Selecter released studio album Daylight – their most urgent, politically engaged and purely uplifting record since the days of Too Much Pressure and Celebrate The Bullet.
Rhoda Dakar’s career began as lead vocalist with all-woman 2-Tone band The Bodysnatchers who toured with The Selecter. The Bodysnatchers first single was double A-side “Let’s Do Rocksteady” with “Ruder Than You“. Rhoda also later sang and collaborated with The Specials.
2-Tone was a crucial multi-racial, multi-cultural explosion borne out of Coventry and the Midlands that remade British pop from 1979 onwards. The main bands who pioneered the movement were The Selecter, The Beat, The Specials and Madness. 2019 also sees the 40th anniversary of 2-Tone.
THE SELECTER
40TH ANNIVERSARY UK TOUR
OCTOBER 2019
17 NOTTINGHAM Rock City
18 LEEDS Stylus
19 GLASGOW QMU
20 NEWCASTLE Boiler Shop
22 NORTHAMPTON Roadmender
23 CARDIFF Tramshed
24 BRISTOL o2 Academy
25 MANCHESTER o2 Ritz
26 BIRMINGHAM o2 Institute
NOVEMBER 2019
01 BELFAST The Limelight
02 DUBLIN Academy (EIRE)
14 GUILDFORD G Live
15 BURY ST EDMUNDS The Apex
16 MARGATE Hall by the Sea
17 LINCOLN Engine Shed
19 CHELTENHAM Town Hall
20 FALMOUTH Princess Pavilion
21 BEXHILL De La Warr Pavilion
22 BOURNEMOUTH o2 Academy
23 LONDON o2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
www.theselecter.net
