Three Bonzos and a piano

My most favourite band of all time has to be the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. I saw them for sure in 1966 in the Great Hall of the University of Surrey (at Battersea) where I was studying and I'm positive I saw them even before that, more informally in the student bar. I was privileged to be at their reunion 40 years later at the Astoria, have seen Roger Ruskin Spear's Giant Kinetic Wardrobe - at the UoS free festival in 1973 - and have enjoyed seeing Neil Innes many times over the years. So it was with great excitement last Saturday that I cycled to the Latest Musicbar (formerly the Joogleberry) to see Three Bonzos and a piano, namely Roger Ruskin Spear, Rodney Slater and Sam Spoons with Dave Glasson - particularly since Neil Innes and Fatso had cancelled their gig at the Duke of York's cinema the night before. Thankfully, Jo and Laurence had saved me a seat up front (though my view was obscured by Rodney's music stand!). They opened with Cool Britannia, swiftly followed by Watermelon and On her doorstep last night, Roger taking most of the vocals and the audience joining in with gusto. There followed two energetic sets of mayhem, with many Bonzos numbers covered, and a few surprise items too: viz: Punktuation and Sprouting Broccoli. We had the trouser press, shirts, the Leg, and all manner of special effects, ending with a tribute to Viv, Tent. It was great to be so close to three living legends and I managed to capture some videos on my Flip Ultra. At least two others were videoing the performance on proper camcorders. I'll deffo be back next month, and hope it'll be a regular gig. Andy Roberts was in the audience - maybe he'll play next time. You can find my videos here. And here's a video from a better angle by David of the Do Dah Diaries also on Vimeo.