Thanks to Andy Swapp for sending along his photographs, and review,
from a great night in Oxford.
Gary 'Mantis' Lucas suddenly appeared stalking across stage and
to whoops and hollers, he smiled his trademark, thin as a whip smile
and was quickly followed by Denny 'Feelers Reebo' Walley, Mark 'Rockette
Morton' Boston and drummer Michael Traylor. Straight away plugging
in, hitting a string or two they had clearly come to do the stuff
and no mistake - these guys meant business - when suddenly John
'Drumbo' French appears and wearing the ubiquitous white trench
coat and wide brimmed hat we have come to recognise, lifts the mike
and they belt into the opening number - 'Gimme Dat Harp Boy'.
Simply this evening was the most fun and the best gig I have seen
in many years, equally importantly for me that without Don 'The
Captain' at the helm I had been feeling like a traitor until hearing
the Back to Front album which went a heck of long way to assuaging
my guilt [!] The thing with this concert without its composer was
that it was either better than the Bristol Colston Hall concert
or more importantly for me NEARLY as extraordinarily good as their
appearance around the time of the release of 'Clear Spot' when they
played in Oxford Polytechnic College. [the best concert I have ever
been to and stands clearly atop my best musical experience of all
time]