THE Specials’ biggest hit, Ghost Town, may have captured the political mood of the early-Eighties, but it seemed no less apt being played this weekend, set as it was to the backdrop of further rioting in London.

Thirty years on from the release of Ghost Town, The Specials’ frontman Neville Staple seems not to have missed a beat. He is lithe and energetic, and he dances and postures and urges the crowd on. But they need no encouragement as he plays one ska or reggae great after another – Monkey Man, Pressure Drop, The Lunatics Are Taking Over The Asylum, some of his own, some covers, Staple and his band deliver them all with the same skill and authenticity.

The audience is fairly sparse given the status of the performer, but the lack of numbers does nothing to kill the atmosphere, which Staple keeps bouyant with his boundless energy and a set of classics which just cannot fail.

This crowd of about 100 looks a bit like the cast of This is England; the passage of time doing nothing to crease those crisp Ben Sherman shirts or scuff the burnish from the brogues.

And like his adoring crowd, the original rudeboy shows no signs yet of hanging up his trilby.