18 December 2014 (gig)
18 December 2014
By Leigh Adams and Sue Archer
Greenwich had more Rabbit than Sainsbury’s when Chas and Dave took to the stage on Friday.
Performing their annual Christmas Jamboree at the O2 Indigo, the Cockney duo revved up a packed audience with their slowly-dying tradition of London ditties and Rockney tunes.
Die hard fans, eager to keep the nostalgia alive, couldn’t stop rocking to a medley of well-known hits, many of the audience grew up with.
The show opened with a blast of Christmas Jamboree old time Music Hall favourites, which set the party sing-along atmosphere for the night ahead.
The Can Can and Henry the Eighth had the eager crowd pounding on the sticky beer-filled floor, as Chas tinkled the ivories with his usual gusto and Cockney oompa-pah.
Joining the duo on stage was Chas’s son Nik on drums, and a quartet of Santa hat-wearing brass players, who all paid their respect to well-loved drummer Mick who sadly died in October.
After a short-break, the Rockney double-act upped the tempo and fast-forwarded a few decades, belting out a string of chart-topping hits to the delight of the crowd.
Rabbit sent the appreciative audience hopping along in unison, as Chas and Dave sang the unforgettable lyrics “You’ve got more rabbit than Sainsbury’s”.
The 02 Indigo was taken on a beano to Margate for a good old knees-up, a tune famously used in the unforgettable Only Fools and Horses’ episode Jolly Boys’ Outing.
In fact the Only Fools and Horses theme tune would have been sung by Chas and Dave, and not its screenwriter John Sullivan, had the boys not been on a promotional tour of Australia.
There’s no doubt Del and Rodney would have been proud as Chas and Dave turned the Indigo into an East End pub with further hits including London Girls and The Sideboard Song.
Gertcha and Snooker Loopy had the crowd singing at full pelt while Ain’t No Pleasing You led to the rowdy revellers linking arms and swaying in time.
It’s not often that the appearance of a new song gets widespread approval but their catchy 2013 release Two Worlds Collide could have been easily mistaken for one of their classic hits.
Taken from their album That’s What Happens, the song would surely have been a top ten hit back in the day, but sadly, the tune didn’t even enter today’s hit parade.
Although denied an encore, the Chas and Dave ravers left the venue on a high, but tinged with sadness that this traditional London sound of yesteryear is fading into obscurity.
Once a staple soundtrack to London life, this unique folk music of the working class is now relegated to nostalgia.
Flat caps off to Chas and Dave for keeping the sound and those Golden memories alive.
And all we’ve got to say to today’s record companies and the slick world of manufactured acts – Gertcha!
