Gonzales

Call Chilly Gonzales what you want, the Worst M.C, Prankster fly, but you can't call him boring.

The Gonzales live experience is one that puts most to shame. You get dedication, passion, comedy and five costume changes, and it never slides into Butlins style cabaret, or high camp.

Schemes and Variations kicks off proceedings, armed with only two melodikas and current sidekick Feist, it's stripped down from it's electro-funk origins, and turned into something that wouldn't sound amiss from the soundtrack to the film Amelie!

Many tracks appear as an altered version, be it Why don't we dissapear, from Gonzales Uber Alles as a tender duet with Feist, or Take me to Broadway as a dirty electro-funk epic, Gonzales knows how to keep a crowd both transfixed and in the mood for partying, as Chilly and Feist found out for themselves as they burst into the crowd to meet the party people of Manchester.

After 10 years of reviewing concerts, I can honestly say I've never seen a gig like Chilly Gonzales' show. He may be a self-proclaimed musical genius, but he is also the killer of live music, as everything after a Chilly gonzales gig will seem DULL!!

Photograph by Christopher Lloyd