August 1, 2010
Three Bonzos and a Piano and the big question was who would be on stage? Certainly not Viv Stanshall who died in a fire so many years ago and the world is a saner but sadder world without him. Neil Innes is no longer part of the team either. Could the band ever be as good as they were? Old hippies in their (late) sixties may not be so appealing to an audience today unless that audience are also a load of old hippies who knew the band in their youth: well, I would say the majority of the audience fitted into that category and those that weren’t looked like their children who had probably been brought up on a diet of Bonzo nonsense.
Three Bonzos: Roger Ruskin Spear, Rodney Slater and Sam Spoons, with David Glasson as the Piano, grey-haired or follicly challenged, rushing around the stage trying to activate home-made electrical gadgets – what was this all about? Nonsense, that’s what, pure unadulterated musical nonsense which had the audience rolling in the aisles and singing along in turn. Anything went and with musical flamboyance. They sang some classics from the old days such as Mr Slater's Parrot, Hunting Tigers out in India, Jollity Farm and a couple of tributes to Viv Stanshall including Canyons of your Mind, sung by Larry wearing the same mask Viv used to wear. Sam Spoons played his spoons with great aplomb and also brought the house down as an Aussie - basing his character largely on Rolf Harris down to the passable on-stage painting.
Joining them on stage as guests were "Legs" Larry Smith and Vernon Dudley Bohay-Knowles, both old Bonzo hands who could also act very foolishly. Larry leading the group in singing The Sound of Music and Vernon playing the saw were highlights. Maybe there was not the mad mayhem, the mindless originality of the sixties line-up but enough of the old to keep the fans happy. New songs have up-to-date themes ranging from Senior Moments to the recycling Bin It and White Van Man. A favourite of mine was Punktuation, literally a diatribe against spelling and punctuation in punk style.
Acoustically the Castle Gardens was not an ideal setting for the Bonzos as their words are so important. There was also absolutely no signage and only those in the know could find their way to the Gardens. Pity - but not the Bonzos’ fault.
Three Bonzos: Roger Ruskin Spear, Rodney Slater and Sam Spoons, with David Glasson as the Piano, grey-haired or follicly challenged, rushing around the stage trying to activate home-made electrical gadgets – what was this all about? Nonsense, that’s what, pure unadulterated musical nonsense which had the audience rolling in the aisles and singing along in turn. Anything went and with musical flamboyance. They sang some classics from the old days such as Mr Slater's Parrot, Hunting Tigers out in India, Jollity Farm and a couple of tributes to Viv Stanshall including Canyons of your Mind, sung by Larry wearing the same mask Viv used to wear. Sam Spoons played his spoons with great aplomb and also brought the house down as an Aussie - basing his character largely on Rolf Harris down to the passable on-stage painting.
Joining them on stage as guests were "Legs" Larry Smith and Vernon Dudley Bohay-Knowles, both old Bonzo hands who could also act very foolishly. Larry leading the group in singing The Sound of Music and Vernon playing the saw were highlights. Maybe there was not the mad mayhem, the mindless originality of the sixties line-up but enough of the old to keep the fans happy. New songs have up-to-date themes ranging from Senior Moments to the recycling Bin It and White Van Man. A favourite of mine was Punktuation, literally a diatribe against spelling and punctuation in punk style.
Acoustically the Castle Gardens was not an ideal setting for the Bonzos as their words are so important. There was also absolutely no signage and only those in the know could find their way to the Gardens. Pity - but not the Bonzos’ fault.
