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O'Neill's Victoria Street, St Albans[Pub]
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| Sat 2 Aug | Rock
|  | The Chevrons   9pm - 11pm |
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| Sat 13 Sep | Covers 60s - present
|  | Light Alloy Our first visit to St.Albans (re-scheduled from 8th August due to Ian's operation) and if past perfomances are anything to go by, it won't be our last. 9pm - 11pm |
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| Reviews | |
 Write a review for O'Neill's Victoria Street » | |
 Ole! Swanvesta Social Club on Fri 3rd Nov 06 | |
   I have never in my life been quite as stunned as on Friday when I walked into my local Irish pub - the kind of place that serves nuts as an appetizer and where the floor is permanently wet (whether with blood or beer, one never likes to ask), to be confronted by an eight piece Cuban band living it up on stage like there was no tomorrow.
For a second, I thought I was hallucinating as I looked at the eight middle-aged, sombreroed, maraca-wielding rockers on the stage, to the usually empty large room. It was packed, floor to ceiling in pineapple decorated splendour with people having what appeared to be, a riot. Suddenly, I understood the 'one in one out' door policy and bought myself a cider and found a rare free, if slightly damp, bar stool and settled down to watch the show.
I must say I was impressed. Swanvesta Social Club was the most enjoyable band I have seen in ages. Though their take on music could hardly be described as, 'fresh' or 'new', it was so enjoyable that the band annihilated any criticisms you may have had in an explosion of colour and sexy rhythms. Their infectious group personality, humorous stage antics - including the sombrero dance-off and singer Senor Chris Cojones (also known as Chris Paton, my favoured, surprisingly talented ex-teacher) and his classic shirt stripping moment held the audience in raptures of laughter and delight.
Their funky Cuban beats descended upon the masses, whipping them into a Latin frenzy as they were encouraged to dance the night away and enjoy the "inauthentic sounds of Cuba" in the new Latin quarter of St Albans.
Their set comprised mainly of covers, ranging from the traditional - Mas Que Nada, Sway, and Guantanamera to spiced up takes on modern hits such as The Kaiser Chiefs' I Predict a Riot and Katrina and The Wave's I'm Walking on Sunshine. The eclectic song mix was truly inspiring and the definite reason for the wide age range of audience members - ranging from sweaty 50 year old groupies, twenty and thirty year old ex- pupils to fresh faced (and blatantly underage) current ones - who exhibited some quite graphic booty shaking that left me feeling my age, and the recipient, their poor unfortunate teacher, looking quite ill.
Suddenly it was over. Following over an hour of diving headfirst into the sultry sounds of Latin soul and Cuban rhythm the audience were left cheering for more. After a brief encore of Mas Que Nada the band put down their instruments and their godlike status to mingle with the crowd. I can only assume that come Monday they all returned to their 'regular' jobs and pastimes. But one thing is for certain, for Senor Chris Cojones, teaching, and his current students, will never look quite the same again. | |
| Sarah Summerfield, Thu 9th Nov 06 | |
| Hit the spot! The Rusty Sheriffs on Fri 18th Aug 06 | |
 OK, so maybe they don't look like rock and roll stars - carefully judged guitar licks, precision bass and drums, studio-quality playing... but close your eyes and you are in amongst The Stones (Jumpin' Jack Flash), Free (All Right Now), Jimi Hendrix (Hey Joe, and All Along The Watchtower, apparently a Bob Dylan song... learning all the time!), The Beatles (Come Together), The Who (Pinball Wizard), The Kinks (All Day and All of the Night), Small Faces etc ... I have been to many live gigs but this lot absolutely shone like a diamond - as someone else said, rust just doesn't come into it. All the musicians in the band played with great confidence... superb blues and rock lead guitar, great backup second guitar (and secondary vocalist/backing vocalist), supremely tight drums and bass playing, all songs true to the originals... a lead singer whose projection was excellent... (he managed to emulate many top vocalists... Daltrey, Jagger, Davies et al)... only suggestion would be to turn the vocal harmonies up a little, they were great to hear, adding richness and authenticity to the sound. People danced, people smiled, people listened. And people ignored the Big Brother TV screens set on mute. Thanks for a great gig, boys. | |
| Stuart, Sat 19th Aug 06 | |
| Best night since New Year Co. Jones on Sat 4th Feb 06 | |
 We saw Co. Jones for the first time at O'Neill's in St Albans on New Years Eve with some friends. It was a fantastic night. We found out they were playing again and had to go. How do you top a New Year's Eve party at the beginning of February? One word: "AWESOME". This band put on a show that just blew us away. O'Neill's is a big pub and you could not have got one more body in this place, the crowd were chanting for the band from the moment they did a sound check and were made to wait. The band come on stage about 9.30pm and we felt like it was New Year all over again. They play Should I Stay, Suddenly by KT Tunstall and a quality track by Elastica - "Connections", the mix of music is just brilliant. They don't get stuck in a hole playing one type of thing but surprise you with the variation in music that they play. More than this you can see this band love what they do. Entertainment at its best. | |
| L and D and about 400 others, Mon 6th Feb 06 | |
| One word... "Awesome"! Co. Jones on Sat 29th Oct 05 | |
Caught the first set at O'Neill's. Never seen or heard this band before and immediately thought WOW!
I walked in to the pub and took a few minutes to realise that a live band was playing "Video killed the radio star". Thats how good this band is... the music was so seamless that if it was not for someone pointing over the rocking crowds at the band I would have thought I was listening to a recording.
"Hey Yah" just lifted the whole pub in to a frenzy. Great energy from the band and it looks as though they have already earned themselves some travelling fans as there were also a couple of lads at the front of the crowd who added to the fun with some excellent dancing cameos. Top bombing boys!
This band is a must see for their lively latin beats and funky rock! | |
| Paul (outoforderband.com), Sun 30th Oct 05 | |
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| Venue details last updated 12 July 08, gig/event details last updated 20 July 08. |
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| Page first created on Lemonrock 22 February 05. |  |
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