"It's gonna' be a corcka"!! Marty claimed on the gigs page. He was referring to the Bongo Bash at Stourport on Severn which is an annual convention for owners of certain Mazda camper vans known as Bongos. Filled with dread at the prospect of spending a gig with fans of vans, we made our way to the venue in rural Worcestershire. The park was very pretty and was flanked by the Severn. The reason for going was because we were almost meeting the Happy Cats half way. I think we all took about four hours to get there, including Nick and Sheila who travelled up from Devon.

Over the last few years, most of the gigs we have attended have been full of fans of the band. There have been some where you get the impression that they are on first name terms with all of them. It was thus a real treat to see this trio of seasoned campaigners having to win over a crowd again. And it was quite a crowd. Heaven knows where so many Bongo owners came from but at first they kept their distance, all on their camping seats outside of the performance area. Gradually, children first, they moved closer as Marty, Les and Brian won them over. When the second half began it was a regular Cats gig with the audience joining in and the dancing underway.

The first half........
 

The music was excellent as usual and there are Happy Cats fans driving Bongos now in all four corners of the land with Take My Hand in their CD players. Hallelujah made an impression. I have only seen them perform this once before and Marty had the words on his lap. Now it is a full blown production piece that made the Bongo people really sit up and take notice. The rest of the set was familiar territory so they had the crowd singing, waving and dancing and rather hoarse by the end.
Ian, the organiser caught the band at the Cottage Inn last year and was certain they would be just right for their bash. He was right. It was a “corcka”!!!!
There was a magical spell at the end when the sky was filled with Chinese lanterns released in memory of one of their former members.

One of the comments on their forum says that the Happy Cats were an inspired choice for the Saturday night. That was the lady whose son joined them on stage for a while with a toy guitar. Well, it was great to catch up with them again and we are looking forward to the next one.

The second half after the Bongo people warmed to the band.....

John Grenfell

Photos by Nick Adams