REVIEW: RICKY COOL AND THE IN CROWD – A NIGHT AT THE FLAMINGO
FOREST ARTS CENTRE, NEW MILTON
The Flamingo Club in London’s Soho was one of the most famous – and infamous – night clubs of the 1960s.
Famous for its reputation as an innovative jazz and blues venue, including its resident band Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames playing all-night sessions on Fridays and Saturdays, the Flamingo nevertheless had a shocking slimy underbelly.
Vicious gangsters, sordid prostitutes, and crooked politicians culminated in the scandalous Profumo Affair, all covered in the show’s informative overhead projections.
Onstage, in their first ever visit to Forest Arts as part of a UK tour, Birmingham’s sharp-suited Ricky Cool and his wonderful band focus on the Flamingo’s extraordinary music.
Cool is a lively, charismatic and mesmeric front man, playing driving saxes, harmonicas, and displaying an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Flamingo’s social and musical history.
The band is tight, lively and good-time. Particularly outstanding is the soul classic I’m In With The In Crowd, a ska version of the movie theme The Good, The Bad And The Ugly and the jazz blue-beat I’m In The Mood For Love.
There’s an authentic period sound to the drums, bass, saxes, guitar, and keyboards, providing an atmospheric Time Is Tight, a cosmopolitan Yeah Yeah!, and the West Indian flavoured From Russia With Love.
The finale featured the relentless Keep On Running and the enthusiastic encore the danceable and distinctive The Liquidator.
Brendan McCusker
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