CHAS & DAVE

WEYMOUTH PAVILION

THREE years ago, with uncertainty over the venue's future, it would have felt impossible for Weymouth Pavilion to attract quite such big names as Chas and Dave.

I might be biased - I grew up listening to my dad sing The Sideboard Song whenever it was time to walk home from the pub and until relatively recently assumed it was one of the daft little ditties he tends to make up after a few pints of landlord's best.

But the Rockney pair are undeniably a household name and it's a testament to the Pavilion team that they played a pre-Christmas gig right here in Weymouth, and that it was so well received.

More than 40 years of touring has done little to soften the accents and the limited talk between songs was tough to understand - but the familiar songs were crowd pleasers, every single one.

"Who wants a bit of rabbit?" Chas - or maybe Dave - asked, and the audience gave an enthusiastic cheer.

They took us through Ain't No Pleasing You, the catchy London Girls, Margate, Rabbit (of course) and closed, a fun and energetic finale, with The Sideboard Song. You're in good hands with Chas and Dave. They've been doing this so long they've retired once, and come back to do it all again. I wonder if they even bother with set lists, relying instead on decades-long habit and practice.

They're performers who produce a quirky and comforting mix of memory and nostalgia, taking their audience back through the decades to a time when old age was a long way off. The couple, both in their 80s, who spent the gig dancing in each other's arms, and the friends wearing flat caps who threw their arms around each other and jumped around on their favourite songs. There's a younger appeal too - the past is a comforting place, particularly in these complex political times.

The performance works so well because Chas and Dave know their audience. And judging from the overwhelming applause in the Oceon Room that night, that audience is still very much there.

RACHEL STRETTON