A Night of Rockabilly with The Polecats

A Night of Rockabilly with The Polecats
It’s 8:30 on a Sunday and I’m stood in The Brook with about 500 people twice my age. Everyone is nice and friendly- giving off a bit of a “Dad” vibe. But this is to be expected as tonight The Polecats play Southampton. The Polecats were founded in 1977 and were arguably the driving force for the rockabilly revival scene of the late 70s and 80s. They play The Brook tonight with local favourites, Black Kat Boppers that are also arguably the driving force behind the rockabilly revolution in the South coast.
Black Kat Boppers, formed in 2009, are one of my favourite bands to watch in Southampton. Their capability to get an entire room on it’s feet is the best aspect that runs through the heart of the Boppers. With an authentic tastefulness to their rockabilly core, the impressiveness of their musicianship could be perhaps missed by those not paying enough attention. Underneath their fun and dancey shell lies some extremely talented musicians. Lucca Scaggiante (guitar and vox) proves that guitar solos can still be cool and when performed with such skill and technicality, make a show-stopping phenomenon.
The Polecats come to the stage and open their set with Bowie cover, ‘John, I’m Only Dancing’ that immediately gets people moving. The set consists of a few covers, including ‘Jeepster’- T.Rex that I find a little strange for a headline band of their status however, it goes down a treat with the rest of the audience due to the unique bounce they infuse throughout the covers. Plus, vocalist Tim Worman reminds me of a comedic Sideshow Bob as he bounces round the stage with legs longer than normal and elongated by his marvellous choice in attire.
The energy emitted from the band is no representation of their age and the 20-song set shows that The Polecats still have it in them to provide a good night. The set is a long one combined with two encores that normally I find a bit…tedious. However, the band are buckets of fun and end their set with track, ‘Bang Bang’ that is about 1-minute of craziness that could be compared to a wasp being held in a jar before being shaken about and then let loose. It seems no one in the room is ready for The Polecats to stop- the band and myself included.
Check out The Polecats here
Check out The Black Kat Boppers here

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