Gig review: Chas & Dave - ABC, Glasgow

Who would have credited that there would be so much demand, far from their Cockney heartland, for the quintessential pub rock of Chas and Dave? Yet the main hall of the ABC was packed out in anticipation of their rudimentary rocking and knees-up singalongs.

Chas & Dave - ABC, Glasgow

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There is no doubt that nostalgic novelty value plays the major part in their ongoing appeal, but it seems that this is a partnership destined to go on trucking based on the fond kinship between the pair, who have worked together since their days as session players in the 1960s.

In the absence of an actual old upright pub Joanna, Chas Hodges balanced his metaphorical pint on the lip of a tinny keyboard, which sounded, frankly, hellish. But sound quality, nor Hodges’ fleet-fingered Jerry Lee Lewis-influenced boogie-woogie dexterity, nor even his archetypal pub singer enunciation, were hardly the priority; within minutes, the entire crowd was bellowing along to London Girls and Margate like a bunch of daytrippers hopped up on Babycham and Watney’s Red Barrel.

Somewhat missing the point, the duo – plus Dave’s godson on drums – rolled out a B-side and a couple of new songs, Got My Ticket For The Darts at least forming a handy sporting diptych with Snooker Loopy,
but returned to sturdier singalong territory with What A Miserable Saturday Night, precision vocal interplay of Rabbit, and soused domestic heartbreak number There Ain’t No Pleasing You, their best tune by some stretch, before setting their particular locale to rights with The Sideboard Song.