So what in the world's come over you/And what in heaven's name have you done

Thursday 24 July – It’s all right, for all the wrong reasons. Yes, it’s a school night and I shouldn’t be out, but I am. No, I don’t like dance music, but we’re off to see the acid house/country fusion that is Alabama 3 down at The Duchess. Have the wheels finally come off?

We didn’t have tickets for this gig so I had to queue up before the doors opened on the offchance that I would be able to get some of the "limited numbers of tickets available at the door". Luckily I managed to get three and left A and H’s names at the door so that they could get in. How cool is that? Yer name is on the list, come on in!

I took the opportunity to snaffle some advance tickets as soon as I reached the bar area, lots of hard-earned cash flowing across the counter as I sipped on my John Smith’s. That was actually a bit of a faux pas. If I’d gone through to the main bar area I could have had a pint of Theakston’s XB.

Support for A3 was from two local chaps who normally play in Hijak Oscar, Tim Fox on harmonia and vocals, and Carl Hetherington who normally plays keyboards but tonight was playing acoustic guitar. Now I like Hijak, when the whole band are playing, but this was a bit dismal. Both remained seated for the entire performance, and Tim had his head permanently down so all we could see was his hat. The harmonia playing got a bit tedious after a while, it just sounded like the train that was a comin’ down the track was never going to arrive. Sorry guys.

The Duchess then really started to fill up in anticipation of the headline act. For the uninitiated, A3 are a British band, founded in Brixton in 1989, mixing rock, dance, blues, country, and gospel styles. The band are particularly notable for their fusion of styles, lyrics full of ironic intent, and their deliberately humorous personas; "Larry Love" (Rob Spragg), "The Very Reverend Dr. D. Wayne Love" (Jake Black) etc.

Even a non-dance (especially acid house) person like me recognised some of the tracks so that must speak volumes for their fame. Woke Up This Morning (off their debut album Exile on Coldharbour Lane) for instance, was used over the opening credits of the TV series The Sopranos. I was also singing along to U Don't Danse 2 Tekno Anymore (off the same album) and had flickers of recognition with Lockdown and Loaded (off M.O.R.) and Let The Caged Bird Sing (off Power in the Blood). I throughly enjoyed the performance and was definitely swaying and bobbing up and down at one stage. I was a bit preplexed at one of the songs they performed for their encore until it struck me that it was a cover of John Prine’s Speed of the Sound of Loneliness substantially different from the original and played with a heavy drum 'n' bass feel. But it worked.

A fantasic night was had by all as evidenced by the slick of sweat left on floor which we noticed as we were leaving. Highly recommended.