SOMETIMES life goes from the sublime to the, well not quite so ridiculous, relatively quickly.

On Wednesday night it was two hours of Handel's Messiah with the BSO and Bournemouth Symphony Chorus at the Lighthouse.

On Friday night, I was back for a similar amount of time in the company of Showaddywaddy - and a guest who declined to be identified, but we are related.

There's nothing like a bit of nostalgia and this fun-loving band from my adopted home city of Leicester formed part of the soundtrack to my teenage years.

I last saw them in the Winter Gardens back in the mid-70s and although there are now just two of the original eight members in the current line-up (Romeo Challenger and Rod Deas) but fronted by lead vocalist Andy Pelos, they're still tremendous value.

In their colourful crepes and drapes, they rattled through all the hits and there have been plenty of them in the 44 years.

Everything was thrown in the mix, from Heartbeat to Three Steps to Heaven, Under the Moon of Love to When along with covers like Johnny B Goode and Runaround Sue.

There was plenty of audience engagement and Pelos (not unlike Dave Bartram in style and sound) and the lads put in a hugely enthusiastic and entertaining shift much to the delight of the few hundred hard core fans. They ranged from seven to about seventy by the look of it.

If the band was in the slightest bit jaded on tour they gave not the slightest sign of it. No going through the motions for Showaddywaddy.

Most of audience were on their feet by the end of the evening to the sound that started it all back in the mists of time, the foot stomping and fist pumping Hey Rock 'N Roll.

You can say one thing for Showaddywaddy. After all these years, they still know how to throw a good old fashioned family party. Nice work boys.