THE likeable Londoners Chas Hodges and Dave Peacock are often wrongly depicted as some sort of novelty act, no doubt based on the light hearted observations they convey in their lyrics.

But on Saturday night, in front of a packed Parr Hall, they once again showed what accomplished musicians and natural born rock and rollers they are.

Hopefully the enduring image of most people leaving will be of Chas tipping his trilby to take the applause after each monumental effort bashing the ivories, rather than the slight kerfuffle at the front of the hall (more on that later).

Although there was a good cross section of all ages packed, the downstairs seating plan was probably a little prohibitive for those who had turned up intending to boogie.

With Chas belting out his best Jerry Lee Lewis impression from the piano, the crowd were soon rocking in the aisles and in front of the stage.

All the hits were in there – surprisingly quite a few – with London Girls and Margate giving the crowd an early singalong opportunity.

With good interaction between artists and audience, Gertcha and the Diddlum Song proved lively numbers.

The band kept their concentration admirably during Rabbit despite a bizarre interlude as the staff tried to eject an over keen fan who decided to run on stage.

That simply teed up a raucous version of Ain't No Pleasing You – the highlight of the show – before they signed off with the Sideboard Song without taking an encore.

Although it was a bit on the short side, with lights up after an hour, most of the crowd left with a smile - and more than a few had worked up quite a sweat.

MIKE CRITCHLEY