THE 21st Bewdley Festival came of age with a stunning opening show from The Ukulele Orchestra Of Great Britain who are made up of – you guessed it – five men and two women ukulele players including the “bass ukulele”. As ukulele player Hestor Goodman remarked: “Two in seven ukulele players are women!”

Those cynics who think that the ukulele is a boring instrument should have been at a packed Ramada Hotel last Friday because the audience witnessed a remarkable show which had them smiling and applauding throughout.

The Ukes, for short, are witty, clever, fun, talented players and singers but, above all, provide one of the most entertaining shows around.

There were many times when it was "guess that tune" but the underlining proof from the Ukes is that a good song is a good song. From Gene Vincent’s Be Bop-A-Lula, through Marvin Gaye’s I Heard It Through The Grapevine, Steely Dan’s Ricky Don’t Loose That Number and the Who’s Pinball Wizard to John Peels favourite song from The Undertones, Teenage Kicks.

Their versions of contemporary songs like Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus and Monster from the Automatic prove the interpretation of great songs.

Spike Milligan must be chuckling up in heaven to the Ukes' version of the Ying Tong Song. Life On Mars (Bowie) began and continued with a simultaneous segue with My Way; For Once In My Life; Born Free; Substitute; Merry Christmas – you try singing one song while another plays on the radio. At one time the Ukes were singing six different songs at the same time. Stunning.

My lasting memory will be the good people of Bewdley singing along to their “folk” version of the Sex Pistols' Anarchy In The UK. How times change. An absolutely brilliant, five star show!

CG