This was a private party for St.Martins College Student Union. I found out about it through the November fanzine and managed to get in thanks to the handiwork of Alan Taylor. The Dome, Morecambe is less than three miles away from my house, so I wasn't going to miss this. The party ran from 8.30pm to 2.00am, and consisted of a disco intermixed with other entertainment. The place was packed, I'd say at least a couple of hundred students.

The first 'turn' was CHARLY CHUCK, (aka Uncle Peter from Reeves and Mortimer is said on my entrance ticket) but I had never heard of him. This was crap in spades - never have I heard such rubbish in the name of entertainment. After a bit more disco, a group from Manchester called, DESPERATE DANCE were on. They were called in at the last minute because the original group, GALLAGHER had been arrested the day before. They were quite good, but didn't play my sort of music (actually, this is not surprising since my sort of music nowadays is acoustic blues along the lines of MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT, REVEREND GARY DAVIES and THE MEMPHIS JUG BAND.

It was back to disco for ten minutes and then I got my first glimpse of the man himself as MUNGO began to set up on stage. My memory went back to the first time I saw him. This was 27 years ago in 1970 at Lancaster University. He still has that very recognisable silhouette and was easily spotted through the darkness, the dry ice and flashing lights. Anyway, about quarter past midnight, MUNGO took to the stage, kicking off with 'SOMEBODY STOLE MY WIFE'. This was quickly followed by, 'LONG LEGGED WOMAN DRESSED IN BLACK' and 'ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT'. The fourth tune was, 'DON'T YOU ROCK ME DADDY'O' which Ray said was on the new album, but it's not on the track listing that I have seen. It started with a Caribbean feel to it, went to what I call normal and then returned to the Caribbean whilst Ray introduced the band. The band was actually six, if not seven strong with, MICK FRAMPTON, TIM GREEN, BYRON and PLATO CONTOSTAVLOS, PAUL NEWTON and someone off stage left with some sort of backing track device. At times, there was actually FOUR guitarists playing. After introductions were complete, the rhythm kept going and we drifted into, 'WIGGLE AND WAGGLE' from the new blues CD, then after more Caribbean licks, we back into 'Daddy'o' and end.

MICK, PAUL & TIM

'LADY ROSE' followed and Ray attempted to get the crowd going with a call and response routine, but they took a bit of persuading. Ray then introduced a medley of old 50's songs, as ones his Grandmother used to sing to him. These were, 'IF I HAD A HAMMER', 'TEENAGER IN LOVE', 'DIANA' and 'AT THE HOP' and it resulted in a big cheer at the end. Ray then introduced the next song as in the movie, 'The Crying Game', it was of course, 'BABY JUMP'. At the break in the song, Ray shouted, "Well you know everybody wanna go to Heaven",etc and before you know it, we're into 'ON THE ROAD AGAIN'. "Is anybody in the mood for love?" shouts Ray. Then it's time for, 'FEELS LIKE I'M IN LOVE', the slow version from the new CD. Ray introduces it as being on the 'Best Disco Album In The World', and says he wrote it for ELVIS PRESLEY. He gets the crowd to sing-a-long to this one and swing their arms to and fro. Before the audience stops clapping to that one, we're into a harmonica intro to a fast and furious, 'SUGAR IN THE BOWL'. At the tail end of this one, we are suddenly into a guitar solo of - 'THE HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING'. Just as this dies down, the harmonica comes out, we're into a short version of, 'OH! SUSANNAH', followed by an equally short, 'BANANA BOAT SONG', and then without a break, a discotheque beat that turns into, 'GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY', and eventually the music stops, but only for a few seconds and it's time for the finale, 'IN THE SUMMERTIME'. I was hoping that the Latin-American beat would come in the middle of this one, as I like this version a lot but instead, there was everything else, "Ole, Ole" from Ray. SHAGGY singing from MICK FRAMPTON, Ray singing, "are you ready for a party?" More 'Ole, ole's', more SHAGGY singing and then, back to the original.

A rapid halt and an equally rapid start to, 'NUTBUSH CITY LIMITS'. By this time, Ray had thrown his shirt off. I was well back from the front but noticed that he didn't seem to have a hairy chest any more. Does he shave it? (was it just my imagination?) Anyway, with the 'Nutbush' beat or something similar in the background, Ray asked for the crowds appreciation of the individual band members, then there was the messages about being kind to animals, etc. What happened to..."I want all the chicks to get laid on the way home." There was no encore, it wasn't that sort of event. I got home shortly after 2.00am with my ears ringing.

As I write this the next day, I reflect on the pluses and minuses of the gig. On the plus side, I had a great time and got to see MUNGO again after a ten year break, and now want to see them again. In fact, my son (aged 11) wants to see them as well. He's always singing, 'SUGAR IN THE BOWL'! On the minus side, (fan club members, please forgive me, minus is only a relative term anyway), there was not enough boogie-woogie and rock'n roll in the set for me. I had hoped that when Ray went into the extended version of, 'BABY JUMP' for example, he would launch into some rock'n roll riffs as he does on one of the fan club tapes, but it was not to be. As Ray has said, he has to move with the times. Unfortunately, dinosaurs like myself can't move as quickly!

ALAN HUTCHINSON 1998.