Half sad, half glad

Well what can we say that hasn't already been said about The Spookys? They are an inspiration in so many ways, from their hilarious high jinks to their stunning low notes.

It may have been a non-descript Monday night in Swindon for most people but Monday 5th September was a very
special night for many of us. We were lured to the quietly wonderful Arts Centre for the penultimate performance of
this year's tour and what a night!

They were at their truly Magnificent best, buoyed up by a very lively crowd, clearly revelling in the banter and picking up on the energy zinging from every member of the audience.

The evening started with Kate Rowe performing her very quiet, and everso beautiful, song but then giving way to some
of her more audience participation numbers, although sadly there was not mass invasion of pirates like at the Ashton
Keynes gig but there was a good deal of bouncing to the chorus of "Space Rabbits of Brooklevoons", instigated by the
over-enthused AK Massive occupying a couple of the rows.

Then on came the Spookys themselves and proceeded to rip up the place with their humour and sheer musical excellence. If we could have written a set list ourselves it would have had those spine tingling pieces, Magnificent, Not pretty enough, the Georgian Section triple, the older "classics" of Dancing Qveeen and Boogie Wonderland along with the stunning new version of Kiss with Spooky Adrian scaring us all with his hip joint dislodging dance routine - a joyous sonic and visual feast.

In between there was an amazing moment when there appeared to be total anarchy breaking out on stage when the "Man line" suddenly took on a life of its own when the blokes made complete ANAGRAMS of themselves, quite literally, displaying their midriffs that had been adorned with a letter and rushing around the stage to reassemble in a sequence that spelt a number of phrases ending up with "WE LOVE HARDWARE". Just such a mad yet brilliant idea - tour bus craziness at its most epic!

On reflection it is quite staggering the volume and range of material they have now and it never ceases to amaze how them come up with new ideas to keep things fresh, yet still building on a common thread of bemused curmudgeonliness and pointless grandeur, inspired silliness, all whilst singing quite brilliantly.

Well, what else can we say? It is a real shame that the "Spooky Summer" is finally over (glass half empty) but it has been such a blast in so many ways (glass very definitely half full). We are truly fortunate to have been touched by their presence in so many ways, and we will raise a Spooky beer glass to drink their health at every possible occasion.

Thanks guys, and here's to the next one!