Evening Press, 3 November 2003

The men in black were back for their annual charity gig, with a slimmed down version of Big Ian, only this year they had transferred to York Barbican Centre, one of several 'firsts' of the night.

The open expanse of the auditorium didn't have that intimate feel to it initially, but that changed after a few songs and the audience were dancing together en masse, even swaying together (almost) to 'Lovely Day' - that must have made the band feel sea sick!

I suspect for many people this was the first time they had seen Big Ian being left speechless not once but twice. He was surprised initially by Berwick Kaler coming on stage looking for a goose, for which the 'dame' got a standing ovation. The second time was during his own, deserved, standing ovation for being the one to put this evening together. Credit where it is due though, and it wouldn't work out as well without such an excellent band, who are so numerous we don't have space to name them, but we all see them up there giving it their all too.

There were a few of the older tracks revived for this gig, including 'The Snake' in the first half and 'Vehicle' in the second, two of my favourite tracks. Another departure from recent years was the "nasty big band", this time it was adults on the stage rather than the kids for the second set, for a very slick sound.

Amongst the new songs were the lounge lizard numbers, which explains the suits, as they did 'Had To Be You' and 'Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You'. Also former band mate Martin Ledger came back for a few numbers, including 'Too Late To Smile' from Big Ian's new CD 'Half Of You Is Me'. It was great watching them perform the theme from 'Minder', as the Big Fella was obviously enjoying himself as much as the audience were! From Motown to 'King of the Swingers', another belting night from one of York's finest collection of musicians.

<