Coventry’s 2 Tone legends will be making two appearances in the city this Christmas after a special stage was built for them at the Sky Blues stadium.

The 2 Tone collective will be performing for an hour ahead of tomorrow’s fixture against Southampton.

Featuring Pauline Black from The Selecter, Roddy Radiation from The Specials and Ranking Roger from The Beat, they will be playing the best-known songs by these groups.

They will be joined by Neville Staples of The Specials on New Year’s Eve, who is flying to England to perform in a free concert in Coventry city centre.

A special stage has been built in the away fan’s section of Highfield Road for the group to perform.

2 Tone collective founder and promoter Roger Lomas said:

“It will be interesting to see how it goes down with a football crowd who might not all be into our songs.”

The idea came about after the club management were impressed by the music in Three Minute heroes at the Belgrade Theatre, which uses all the songs from Coventry’s golden 2 Tone scene. The show was so successful it is returning for a second run next year.

It will be the first time that the collective has performed in Coventry since it was formed in July.

Roger, who worked as a producer with The Specials and The Selecter, said:

“We’ve mainly played on the continent at festivals so far. The money is better and the facilities are better.

“We don’t want to play everywhere – I turn down twice as much stuff as we play.

“We get invited to a lot of ska festivals, but the 2 Tone sound has a wider audience and is more successful than that.”

More gigs in England haven’t been ruled out, if the correct venue is found, and Roger revealed that the Coventry Skydome could be ideal.

He said:

”I don’t know if playing in Coventry soon would be a good idea – it might be overdoing it, but it is exactly the sort of venue that would suit us.”

The Sky Blues match against Southampton is at 7.45pm, with the 2 Tone Collective playing at 6.45pm. On New Year's Eve they will be on stage between 9pm and 11pm outside Coventry Cathedral.

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