Those of us that weren't glued to the Champions Leauge final and got up to the Gypsy Hotel early were treated to some fine tunes from DJ Scratchy followed by a last minute replacement opening act after Mila and Re-Noir failed to get visas sorted in time and didn't make it over from Moscow for this show.
They were replaced by the very fine blues duo of MARC OLIVIER and Urban Voodoo Machine's Paul-Ronny Angel who sat down and played three very fine old blues tunes. The opener was a great version of Robert Johnson's Love in Vain which showcased just what a fine slide guitar play Paul-Ronney is when he isn't fronting the Urban Voodoo Machine or running the Gypsy Hotel. His raspy vocals are perfect on Love in Vain too. They then did a cool version of Warren Zevon's Carmelita that P-R introduced as being a Mariachi tune. I thank him for supplying the correct title. Either way it's a fine song and Marc did some great picking on his guitar while P-R sang the hell out of it.
For the third and final number they upped the volume and power for a great bluesy version of the Stooges' Gimme Danger. It's perfect in such a setting when sung with good grizzled vocals like it was tonight.
Next on was TRICITY VOGUE who was playing her second show of the day and was wearing a very smart ladies tuxedo and silk shirt with a top hat. she plays old school Jazz and blues tunes on her Ukelele which is why she opened with Should I Say Or Should I Go by the trad jazz band known as The Clash and a very cool version it was. that got a good few people singing along as did most of her set.
Her second song was apparently taken from Star Wars and was the first reference of the evening to that series, but no one else was referencing Florence Desmond as she did on The Deepest Shelter In Town: a rather bawdy song from the 1940's that we were asked to guess if it was a real old song or a new one. Well it's a great tune and well worth being brought back to life like this. We were asked the same question of Can't Stop Myself Thinking About You and that turned out to be an original and rather good with it.
Tricity Vogue came back for an encoreof the old Trevor Horn delta blues number Video Killed The Radio Star that featured a slight false start and a massive singalong that left most of the audience smiling.
After the break it was time for the evening's most disturbing act the pulchritudinous in extremis DALSTON FISTING CLUB who are the brainchild of The Fister sisters Lady Ane-Angel and Suri Sumatra and their Ringmistress and an extremely un-abused dog, who is surely the best canine in showbusiness since Fanny The Wonder dog!!
The act does what it says on the tin behind a white sheet to save the audience from splatter. The very brave Fister sisters compete to see who can get the largest object in the hole so to speak and they used (among other things) a cucumber and an umbrella and what appeared to be Paul-Ronney Angel's own pair of Ugg Boots. Or maybe a pair that was confiscated at the door?
All of this was just building towards the finale when the very brave dog took off his jacket and got to be completely buried and came out covered in... well you know, it was all over his head and as he shook it off he was eating it. MMMM..very tasty and also very very funny indeed. Just Beware if you see the Fister sisters nearby with some rubber gloves...
After the stage had been thoroughly cleaned and set up, it was time for THE LOG INSIDERS who I promised I would see and review about two years ago and well finally I've kept my word. I really wish I had made the effort sooner as they are a 4 piece Rock and Roll band from Oxford who don't half rock.
They are currently promoting their debut album "The Sound Of Cat Gut & Engine Oil" Which is a good indication of where they are coming from. They opened with Long Black Car that had enough of a rumble going on to evoke Link Wray playing with Robert Gordon with some vocal help from, say, Brenda Lee at her most rocking.
It has to be said that Nick Kenny's Red Gretsch sounds fantastic throughout as does the Red Gretsch drumkit Dan Goddard hits the hell out of. They also evoke The Devil In Me in a way that brings the old Jim Thompson book and film to life far better than the recent film did.
Sarah Gregson's sultry hellion vocals on Back Chat put the rest of us in our places to make sure we wouldn't be giving her any back chat at all. Man Trap describes exactly that situation and how the woman who is the man trap works her magic on her adoring slaves but there is a twist in this tale. If I remember rightly, Midnight Man was one of several songs where Sarah and Nick share the vocals allowing for some great vocal dynamics and a far more interesting tale to be told while Simon Kenny's bass rumbles away like he has spent his entire life listening to Duane Eddy and Link Wray and very little else.We salute his dedication.
While we all want to meet a Cool Rockin' Daddy right, you'd want to meet one like this especially as the male side of the vocals sounds a lot like John Spencer in his Heavy Trash incarnation clashing with Imelda May and what a glorious clash it is too and just in time for them to get all Nervous: a great love gone wrong song.
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One of the best question and answer songs they have is Did I Do Right? and while Sarah asks Nick answers and well you need to hear the song to find out what goes on. It was a fine close to a great set.
They came back for an encore and did Blue Moon Baby as apparently it was a Blue Moon outside, or was it because you could buy bottles of Blue Moon at the bar? Either way go and get a copy of the album from www.thelonginsiders.co.uk and you won't be disappointed.
Next up was FANCY CHANCE who was a diminutive Japanese girl with a huge afro dressed as Lt Uhura doing a burlesque routine to the Star Wars theme (do you detect a attern emerging here?) that was very funny and rather sexy too. We very much liked the finale of single nipple tassle twirling!!
The final act of the evening were the TRANS SIBERIAN MARCH BAND who are a 12 piece Russian/Balkan brass band of oddballs and great musicians. I'll apologise for any guesswork on the song titles but I spent much of the set working out what the Ska Whores t-shirt one of the trumpeters was wearing was all about....The opening number set things up nicely with a great blast of brass coming at us and a furious pace to the music that was full of infectious toe tapping melodies that made you want to have your ninotchka real close.
They introduce the second song as being a Serbian number that had some very good sax and trumpet breaks in it. I was also trying to work out which of the trannies in the band was the least concinving one. It was a tough competition. Still they soon took us off to Gorky Street for a good dance that probably needed to have some high kicking involved in it.
Shottia(?) sounded like the sort of song you'd hear at a wedding that would have the bride and grooms' family having a dance off to it. Mesk Havasi seemed to be calling for shots of Slivovitz to be drunk every time the trombones came back in or something along those lines. By the time they gave us their version of Mazeltov I could have been at a few of the weddings I've been to and they really should have given out a couple of chairs so we could dance to it properly as it was a very wild version.
They slowed things down a bit for Baltango: their very own Balkan Tango with dance moves every bit as complicated as the Balkan Borders but a lot safer. Still they all looked like they were having a ball. Hondo was next and I know I have versions of this tune but it's never sounded quite as vibrant as this did.
They then put two old songs together as one. I guessed the titles from the introduction as being Ozmenakha and Benshahin which I know is miles off. Either way, the first song built things up nicely before it all sort of collapsed in wonder into the second tune that seemed more like the riot on the dance floor ending.
I think it was on the one I have as Kassap Ussapa that they had a trumpet duel that should have been done on top of chairs on shoulders but it was still a great duel and a great tune. Sina Navi had most of the people who were still standing dancing away the night. They then did Mesecina which they pointed out was a tune from the film Borat and took us all out to the steppe for a step or two. Ska Maro had a bit of a skank to it although they were starting to look a little tired as this was also their second show of the night.
They closed with the excellent Petyoshka. It was a real show stopping brass monster with solos from almost everyone in the band and some introductions to all of the band.
The encore was introduced as being a Siberian Love song and that turned out to be a great instrumental version of the Final Countdown which broke down in the middle into the old James Bond theme tune before a rousing ending of the final countdown brought the show to a close. It was a great end to a great night out with only an hour or so of dancing to DJ Scratchy left for anyone with the energy to do so.
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