It is tempting to try and analyse music too much, to concentrate on a tricky chord sequence or on vocal range, to get lost in a guitar solo or use of poignant lyrics. But sometimes you get all of the above and it falls under the category of pure entertainment. Friday nights double bill of Lindisfarne's Billy Mitchell/The Happy Cats, was just one of those rare events. The highest praise is that we simply didn't want the music to stop or for the evening to be over.

Billy Mitchell kicked the evening off in fine style with Come Home Soon, his combination of humour, harmonica and acoustic guitar had us alternately hysterical and awe struck. I'd love to include all of Billy's jokes and anecdotes but that would take a separate review. Suffice to say that his version of Bob Marley's No Woman No Cry and his Governor of Hong Kong inspired Walking the Dog, were hilarious high spots. And yet when the laughter stopped and Billy started to sing we were transfixed by his voice and sheer ability to control an audience. It was impossible to look away, indeed there were several songs where I feared emotion would get the better of me and judging by the thunderous applause, the rest of Barrels felt the same way. An anecdote about a pub in south Shields ('The Flying Stool') was juxtaposed with the gorgeous Rod Clements song Can't Do Right For Doing Wrong. To have us roaring with laughter and then so quiet that we could hear ourselves breathing is a rare ability.

It was easy to spot a Lindisfarne song, the Billy Mitchell fans (of which there were many) would join in with every word. But it was an evening which thrived on audience participation, both Billy Mitchell and The Happy Cats positively encouraged it. High points of the night included Together Forever a Rab Noakes song from the Fog On The Tyne album, Born At The Right Time written by Billy himself, and his own version of You've Got A Friend which he made humorous and enormously moving at the same time. When his set ended we demanded an encore and were rewarded with Cat Stevens' Wild World, complete with very passable Sting impersonation.. "Thank you" he said when we finally let him go "If you've enjoyed tonight my name is Billy Mitchell, if you haven't it's Rod Clements". To keep you Lindisfarne fans up to date Billy informs me that they will be touring from October and releasing a new album in March.

Marty Craggs, lead vocalist and man of many instruments with The Happy Cats, was a member of Lindisfarne for seventeen years. After an amicable split he formed The Happy Cats with Les Dodd (vocals/guitar) and Brian Duffy (vocals/accordion), and they have been gigging now for a couple of months. Marty told me that band was all about "having a good time". This was certainly transmitted to the audience. How to describe The Happy Cats style? I'll leave that to the recipe for success which Marty outlined to me "A drop of the Irish, a hot spoonful of salsa, a twist of Tamla, shake it all up with thirty years of Rock and Roll experience and garnish with good humour". Perfectly put!

Their ebullient style and obvious enthusiasm had us dancing, clapping and singing from start to finish. There would appear to be no instrument that Marty Craggs cannot play! He brought out a whistle for the Alan Hull song All Fall Down, a saxophone during a brilliant version of The Saw Doctors Living In The Sixties Still, then there was a flute for Fairytale of New York. Not to mention accordion, harmonica and maracas which featured throughout the set. The vocals were superb, Les and Marty complementing each other wonderfully during Looking For The Heart Of Saturday Night and Marty's voice echoing hauntingly through Barrels on Just Walk Away René. Brian Duffy particularly excelled himself on the accordion during a version of The Beatle's Help, and it was at this point that Marty asked "Do you fancy a bit of a sing?". But in fact we couldn't stop ourselves, we were part of the performance, singing, clapping and smiling - and that was just what The Happy Cats wanted. A guitar solo by Les led us into a John Prine song Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness, this together with You've Got Me On The Run another Saw Doctors song were my own personal highlights - but there were so many. The Happy Cats ended appropriately enough with The Rolling Stones classic The Last Time, promising us that it would not be "the last time they play in Barrels". I fervently hope that this is a promise they will keep.