The Specials set to honour former band members at Wolverhampton Civic show

It shows that their friends are gone but not forgotten.

They have been performing We have All The Time in The World and Lynval Golding also takes up mic duties on a cover of Bob Marley's Redemption Song, a song he sang at Brad's funeral.

At a recent Rock City gig in Nottingham, Lynval finished Redemption Song by raising his arms and calling out the names of his two former band members.

On Facebook, Golding's daughter Michelle said: "Lynval said that when they were thinking about how to pay tribute to their lost brother, Terry suggested 'We Have All The Time In The World'. Lynval instantly thought it was a beautiful way to think of Brad and said it feels incredibly uplifting to perform it in the encore."

Michelle added: "Lynval sang Redemption at Brads funeral and when I spoke to him this week he thought it would be really emotional for him to do it live, but was determined to honour Brad. Its been one hell of an emotional journey losing Brad last year."

The band have been joined by Gary Powell of The Libertines as their new drummer, following the loss of founder member Bradbury.

Powell said: "It is with deepest gratitude that I state what an honour it is to be asked to perform for The Specials in their US and UK tour dates. John 'Brad' Bradbury was a unique performer and his style and ability was definitely one of the defining factors that helped to create The Specials sound, and it is with great humility that I will be doing these tours and carrying on his legacy.

"The Specials are one of the UK's most important bands so I am also very excited at the prospect of performing such a great catalogue of music with some of the most important characters in English music folklore.

"Again I cannot thank The Specials enough for believing in me to take on such a heady task and I look forward to the challenge."

The shows are the first in the UK since the sad loss of Bradbury last December. Singer Terry Hall said: "We started working on these dates last October. Everyone was really looking forward to them & then just after Christmas Brad passed away. It was devastating but in our heart of hearts we know he would want us to continue with the plan he helped to put together."

The band formed in 1977 when songwriter/keyboardist Jerry Dammers teamed up with vocalist Tim Strickland, guitarist/vocalist Lynval Golding, drummer Silverton Hutchinson and bassist Horace Panter (aka Sir Horace Gentleman).

Strickland was replaced by Terry Hall soon after and singer Neville Staple and guitarist Roddy Byers (aka Roddy Radiation) joined the band the following year.

They enjoyed a spectacular rise when their politicised, multi-cultural sound provided the soundtrack to a generation alienated by unemployment and Thatcherism.

They enjoyed a spectacular run of hits from 1979-1981, including Gangsters, A Message To You Rudy, Too Much Too Young, Rat Race, Stereotype, Do notihng and their 1981 number one hit Ghost Town.

The band reunited for the first time in 1993 when Golding, Panter, Radiation and Staple took part. Subsequent reunions followed and in 2007 Hall agreed to team up with Golding for the first time in 24 years to play Specials songs at Glastonbury.

The band have hit the road on numerous occasions since, playing successful gigs in the UK and the USA and joining Blur and New Order to celebrate the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.

With Andy Richardson