For anyone who thinks of Chas n Dave as being a thing of the past they are well and truly off the mark as a full capacity Rock City for tonight’s gig will testify and for a band that have been around since the late 70s this is some achievement.

Starting as they mean to go on with ‘All by Myself’ a footstampimgly belting singalong track taken from their new album ‘That’s What Happens’ warms the crowd up nicely and as Piano player extroadanaire Chas Hodges proclaims at the end “it looks like we gonna have some fun” and he’s not wrong.

By the time they get going with ‘Give me a London Girl’ the crowd are in full voice and bouncing around in a style that would put pearly kings and queens to shame I’m sure the dancing would have been even more animated and frantic if there’d have been more room.

They introduce their first top 20 hit ‘Gertcha’ (a little known fact is that this song was temporarily altered from its original version for a performance on Top of the Pops because the producers mother objected to the use of the word ‘cowson’ – a Victorian swearword – if you thought Frankie Goes to Hollywood started that banned record lark – well think again ) and the crowd really get going

Chas introduces his son Nik on drummers and dedicates the song to their previous drummer Mick Burt who died a few weeks ago to rapturous applause from the assembled rabble.

Just when you thought the crowd were at fever pitch the guys launch into ‘Snooker Loopy’ and the singalong is at full pelt – there are sections of the crowd dressed in braces and flat cap in homage to the boys and they are throwing themselves into it for all they are worth. Never has a song about such an ‘interesting’ sport been so compelling.

It’s worth mentioning that Chas’ prowess on the piano is something to be admired, as it is often overlooked and underrated. The boogie woogie style pulsating and vibrating about the place and making it impossible to keep still.

The best is yet to come the three pronged attack of ‘Rabbit’ which see Rock City as a sea of punters doing the snapping hand talking movement which was an epic sight to behold then slowing the tempo with Ain’t No Pleasing You’ (confession time : This is one of my favourite songs of all time and anyone who doesn’t have it in their favourite list obviously hasn’t listened to it hard enough ) has the loudest singalong that I think Rock City has heard in years so it’s blatantly obvious I’m not alone in my worship of this fine tune.

Then to top it off – the cherry to top the cake – they finish the set off with the sideboard song and everyone once again are throwing themselves into the the pearly king and queen dance with aplomb. Crikey (or should that be Cor Blimey ?) you need boundless energy to keep up with these chaps.

They seem so taken aback when the crowd shout for an encore for a good five minutes that they seem to have run out of songs and launch into ‘Gertcha’ again, the crowd don’t mind this one little bit and the singalong commences. The crowd are still shouting for them after the lights have gone up – Chas Hodges was spot on …..this was a lot of fun ….and then some .

Jackie Nutty.