Swing Fever @ The Maggi Bank, North Shields.

Jackie (vcls), Tom (pno), Phil (bs), Peter (dms).

I had pre-conceived ideas of a tea shop quartet tipping their toes ever so slightly into the banks of, say, the Ohio.

I was wrong - boy was I wrong! As the anonymous Tom pounded the piano into near submission at twice the volume of the whole Ray Stubbs Band the anonymous Jackie came in on Summertime. This wasn't no Summertime where the livin' is easy - this was summertime in Helmand Province where the shot and shell were flying - or maybe it was just Geordie Gershwin shufflin' around in his grave.

Whatever, it kick-started a no holds barred, shoot the prisoners gig, that rocked and occasionally swung like crazy.

Jackie has the tonsils, the larynx to bring down the government - any government not to mention the walls of Jericho! I'm Beginning To See The Light, It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing - it didn't but it did have a momentum of its own. Georgia suggested a hint of mellowness and King of the Road reminded me that that was one of the better pop songs of the sixties. Get Happy made us feel just that!

There were problems with the system - piano too loud - but maybe that was because of my proximity to the stage. When we retreated to the bar the balance was better.

As well as standards a couple of my favourite sixties tunes were in there - The Kinks' Sunny Afternoon - surely worthy of an entry in the British version of the Gasbook and Feliciano's Light My Fire. Over The Rainbow was Judy G on a triple doze of uppers.

There was also Dylan and Queen along the way.

Bass player kept it together and Peter the drum played drums the way Premier drums should be played - with precision-like accuracy.

Ignore the negatives I loved it!

Photos.

Lance.