Review

Melksham Rock and Roll Website Review 16th April 2006

16th: Rich says:  It was a while since I had been to the BAWA club in Bristol but I set off in glorious sunshine to see Rock back the Clock playing at the club for the first time.   I arrived at about 20:30 and there were already about 100 or so people.   A very respectable turnout considering that the Eddie Cochrane Cherised Memories weekender was also playing in Chippenham, but as I soon found out there was still more to come.   The DJ for the evening was Rockin' John who was spinning the discs for those couples who were making their way onto the dance floor.    I was pleased to see some friendly faces belonging to some of our Melksham regulars in the crowd, so after grabbing a reasonably priced drink from the bar I sat down for a quick chat and found that I wasnt alone in not having seen the band before.
The band took to the stage about 21:15 and by this time there was about 190 people in so the hall was buzzing.   The band consisted of 6 people (of which 4 took turns in doing the lead vocals) - 3 guitarists, 1 keyboard player, a drummer and a singer.   They launched their first set with a rendition of Shake, Rattle and Roll, which filled the dance floor with Jivers.   The floor stayed this way as the band continued to keep the pace up with versions of High Class Lady, Shoppin' around, Marie Marie, Brown Eyed Handsome Man, High School Hop, Old Black Joe and Chantilly Lace.   The BAWA club attracts a wide variety of dancers including traditional rock and rollers, modern jivers, lindy hoppers, boppers and strollers.   Time soon came for a break and Rockin' John kept the never tiring dancers happy with a further selection of well known and loved tracks.   The band then returned to the stage in a change of clothes and continued with the stream of well known classics which the crowd just lapped up.   They finished the set off with a couple of slowies which brought the smoochers onto the floor, and then as an encore they launched into Rock this Town which pleased me and the other boppers.

As they left the stage, the hall slowly cleared of all the dancers and I had a chance to catch up with the band and find out a bit more about them.   The reason they havent particularly broken into the South at the moment is because they come all the way from Manchester, but they are keen to play more clubs down here.   Well from what I saw - they are a tight band who play good old traditional rock and roll material, so I think they would go down well at our place.   Hopefully we can get them in for 2007, but if you see them advertised for a dance near you before then and you like good old traditional well known rock and roll then I would suggest give them a go - they are good fun light entertainment.

www.melkshamrockandroll.co.uk