New York gets another crack at two hot tickets: The Specials have added a second NYC date and a-ha a third to their very brief U.S. tours this spring. The reunited 2 Tone ska act plays Terminal 5 on April 20, while the Norwegian pop trio has added a third and final show at the Nokia Theatre on May 8.

The reunited Faith No More is now set to make its American debut with a pair of hometown concerts at San Francisco’s historic Warfield Theatre in the days leading up to the band’s much-anticipated appearance at April’s Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival.

Reunited ska legends The Specials have filled out their short trip to North America this April, adding, as promised, two more concerts — April 15 in Los Angeles and April 19 in Toronto — to the band’s brief itinerary.

Reformed ska legends The Specials will make their first U.S. appearance in nearly 30 years with a performance on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” on April 12 before playing the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival and three other stateside dates — all in advance of a full North American tour later in 2010, according to Billboard.com. So far, only an April 21 date at New York’s Terminal 5 has been announced, but two more shows are expected in April around the band’s previously announced California festival date, Billboard reports.

[tweetmeme]Reformed 2 Tone ska legends The Specials will commemorate last year’s string of sold-out U.K. reunion concerts with the March release of a 24-track live DVD titled, appropriately enough, “30th Anniversary Tour,” according to the NME.
The band currently is taking pre-orders on its website for the film, which was recorded at last Nov. 10 at [...]

[tweetmeme]The lineup for this year’s Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival finally was unveiled today, and, as usual, there are a number of reformed ’80s college rock staples on the bill, including Public Image Ltd., Echo & The Bunnymen, The Specials, Faith No More, Devo and Gary Numan.
The April 16-18 festival, held at the Empire [...]

Long-departed U.K. indie-pop act The Primitives — sometimes lumped together with the mid-to-late-’80s C86 scene — has somewhat quietly reformed, playing its first gigs in 17 years in its home country this month and even doing a bit of recording.
Without much fanfare, the band — best known for its jangly U.K. hit single “Crash” — [...]

The BBC and EMI recently struck a new partnership to digitally release archival recordings — mainly Peel Sessions and In Concert episodes recorded between 1977 and 1981 — from punk, post-punk, New Wave and 2 Tone-era ska acts such as Duran Duran, Public Image Ltd., The Specials and Gang of Four.
The “digital EPs” and full-length [...]

Record Rack: A weekly round-up of the pertinent new albums, reissues and/or box sets due out Tuesday.
ARTIST: Duran Duran
RELEASES: Rio: Collector’s Edition, Live At Hammersmith ‘82
BACKSTORY: Delayed until next month in the U.S., this week sees the U.K. release of a pair of archival Duran Duran titles: an expanded 2CD reissue of 1982’s [...]

Tabloid fixture Amy Winehouse joined the reunited Specials onstage at last weekend’s V Festival in England, lending her vocals to the ska legends’ “You’re Wondering Now” and “Ghost Town.” The festival slot comes as the band continues its 30th anniversary reunion (sans founding songwriter/keyboardist Jerry Dammers), which currently is slated to wrap up with a [...]