Lily Allen a factor in reformation of The Specials

'She made us realise there was a future' admit band at V Festival

23 August 2009

Lily Allen was one of the factors behind The Specials reunion, the band have revealed during an interview at V Festival.

Talking with Absolute Radio presenter Geoff Lloyd, the group marked her Glastonbury show two years ago as one of the turning points of their comeback.

"Terry [Hall] and Lynval [Golding] played with [Lily Allen] at Glastonbury in 2007, I think, and that was one of the sort of things that [made us realise] perhaps there was a future for the reformation of The Specials," said bassist Horace Panter.

"You see Roddey [Byers, guitarist] and I still live back in Coventry where not a great deal goes on and we'd been kind of out of touch, if you like," he continued.

Speaking about their first comeback show as surprise guests at Bestival 2008, Roddey Byers added: "We did a 45-minute set [at Bestival] and it was kind of a warm up to see if it would work and Horace went to me before we went on stage 'I don't think we know how popular we are here,'" before joking, "we saved the world again!"

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