We held a charity auction in a marquee and Swanvesta were superb. Many people kept saying without their flare and fun it would not have been such an electric atmosphere.

They made the organising very easy and we will certainly use them again soon.

So, I finally get to her the infamous Swanvesta Social Club! After a day doing the PA For the Alpha Beats show, El "Pedro Tecnico" takes over the mixing desk as I just NEED to see how NINE, NUTCASE musicians are going to fit into the stage area of The Farmers Boy, which will from now on always be know to me as "The Tardis".

Now don't get me wrong, you will NEVER hear a better Latin-style band, anywhere, full-stop. But I spent most of their gig crying my eyes out in laughter with them; the sight of their guitarist standing on a church-pew style seat, with his neck craned so he could fit under the ceiling will haunt me for a long time. All manner of gourdes, whistles, rattly-percussion & other strange noises accompanied truly magnificent music, played absolutely BRILLIANTLY. These guys are just SO much fun, but believe me, to be so, they must have shedloads of natural talent & timing and loads of practice...NOT an easy set this!

I especially fell about laughing to their Hispanic-take on a certain Michael Jackson's "Beat It", which they seem to have named "Vamoose"; The Police's "Roxanne" has forever been turned into a machine-gun vocal tirade, accompanied by superb trumpet, congas, saxophone & flute playing.

This is the MOST fun I've had with my clothes on since I can't remember when - an absolutely manic, crazy, FUN night with a terrific bunch of crazies - thank you peops!

Mark Robertson

What a stonking gig to warm up a sopping Saturday night.

The band started the 'cocktail' set with their hit single "Hit me baby one more time", apparently copied and ruined by Britney Spears. Moving through their extensive catalogue of genuine Cuban material and other pop numbers given the Swanvesta treatment they soon got the audience got up on its feet to salsa through the night.

It was great to see the beautiful young people of Harpenden gettin' down and singing/swinging along.

After a brief pause for rehydration, they continued with the 'Havana' set with some up-tempo Santana numbers. The complementary straw hats and house double pina coladas helping things go with a swing while the hours just flew by.

Suddenly time was called and there was just time for one encore - Hit Britney again.

Catch them when you can, you won't be able to keep still.

wolf girl jill

What a wonderful finale to the St Albans Folk Week -.

The Swans played for nearly 3 hours (with a couple of breaks) and as the lovely summer evening faded, the crowds flocked in to groove the night away. The place was full and everyone was dancing.

Snr Cogones (I can't quite remember what that means) did a brilliant job ducking and diving in and out the crowd and joining the dancers.

It was so nice to see young and old, girls & boys, couples and singles who couldn't resist the Cuban rhythms. It is such infectious, happy music, you just can't keep still.

A super rendition of Santana's Smooth, Beuna Vista's Chan Chan, and Quanta la mera to name but three.

A great band who have come on so much in the last few years.

wolf girl jill

I didn't realise that the Vintry was a music pub but got a tip-off from friends about this gig. They don't appear regularly but are an absolutely stunning band. There must be about ten of them including brass and percussionists. As well as playing classic Cuban they display a perverse delight in converting virtually any pop song into a Latin dance number. I can remember Kylie and The Kaiser Chiefs but the rest is a happy blur. The place ended up in an endless sweaty singalong with everyone from teenagers to crumblies. Spot on.

A music fan