The English Beat books the Sierra Nevada Big Room for Feb. 11

Dave Wakeling's long-running version of the 2 Tone favorites plays Chico's 400-capacity Big Room on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2027, fresh off a UK tour.

Dave Wakeling spent this October playing UK theaters under the name The Beat. In February he's back on this side of the Atlantic as The English Beat, in a 400-capacity room at a Chico brewery.

The English Beat plays the Sierra Nevada Big Room on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2027, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $35 to $50 through Eventbrite. The show was announced Oct. 29.

Wakeling has led a U.S.-based English Beat for years now, and it's his band, not a reunion of the original lineup, that's coming to Chico. The distinction has confused people before: when Ranking Roger's separate group released *Bounce* in 2016, some outlets treated it as the first English Beat album in decades. As Punknews pointed out, the first album from Wakeling's act was *Here We Go Love*, released June 15, 2018.

That record was a do-it-yourself project. It came out on Wakeling's own label, Here We Go Records, and was funded through a PledgeMusic campaign rather than a traditional label deal, according to the Phoenix New Times. Its 13 songs open with "How Can You Stand There?", per Billboard, and Wakeling described the title track as sounding like "The Briefs covering a Buzzcocks cover of a Monkees song," as First Avenue noted. Billboard also reported that Ranking Roger hummed horn lines that ended up on the album.

Wakeling's own label, a crowdfunding campaign, and 13 songs.

The band has stayed busy since. This fall, billed as The Beat in the UK, Wakeling led a 21-date tour called Dance Crazed Too, which opened Oct. 1, 2026, at HMV Empire Coventry, according to Middlesbrough's box office, with stops including Birmingham Town Hall and Cardiff's Tramshed.

The Big Room is a good fit for a band like this. At 400 capacity, it's small enough that the horns and the rhythm section hit you straight from the stage, and big enough to give a dance crowd room to move. That matters for music built on the skank beat: a ska show where nobody dances is a wasted night.

A Thursday in February is a good excuse to get out of the house. Get tickets early, eat beforehand, and plan on dancing for most of the set.

Sources: The English Beat - Here We Go Love review — Punknews (punknews.org); English Beat forms anew, releases new album — Phoenix New Times (phoenixnewtimes.com); The English Beat — Billboard (billboard.com); The English Beat — First Avenue (first-avenue.com); Here We Go Love — Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org); The Beat - Dance Crazed Too UK Tour — Middlesbrough Box Office (boxoffice.middlesbrough.gov.uk); The Beat Starring Dave Wakeling — Birmingham Town Hall (Ents24) (ents24.com); Eventbrite: The English Beat at Sierra Nevada Big Room (eventbrite.com); JamBase: The English Beat at Sierra Nevada Big Room (jambase.com)