19 December 2013 (gig)
20 December 2013
There are various things that herald the oncoming festive season, mince pies, mulled wine, panic present buying, but without The Rifles annual Boogaloo acoustic sessions Father Christmas could almost be forgiven for staying in bed.
Its only a month since their triumphant Forum show in Kentish Town which saw the dedicated following in full voice and tonight with Christmas carols still ringing in our ears the merry few supped down beers in anticipation of another festive sing song at the last night of their annual residency.
Eton Rifles having warming up the crowd the slimmed down band took their places in this makeshift but worthy venue and with plenty of familiar faces eager to get going Joel (acoustic, vocals), Luke (lead, vocals) and Dino (keys) kicked into 'Local Boy'.
The usual repeated chants of 'Dino' 'Dino' ring around constantly as the band flow effortlessly into 'Standards', 'When I'm alone' and the Bluresque 'Lost In London'.
'The Great Escape' gets the heart racing and every single person sings the classic "buy a brand new semi next door to the Taliban" line with glee.
"Dino give us a song" chants ended with him kicking off an impromptu version of 'It Must Be Love' by Madness much to the enjoyment of the packed out establishment.
'Minute Mile' from the forthcoming 'None The Wiser' album, out January 27th, made a welcome appearance. 'Winter calls', ' Tangled Up In Love', ' Peace And Quiet' all the classics were also here and of course when "woah woah woah" sounds we know it's the end but what a night, 2 hours of festive merriment!
Another exemplary performance from a world class act, as much of a Christmas staple as turkey and sprouts, Merry Christmas to all!
