Last updated 05:36, Friday, 25 July 2008

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great BritainThe marquee is packed to bursting for the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain and as they take to the stage in their tuxedos it quickly becomes clear that this is not your usual folk set.

They kick things off with Running Wild, ‘a song by that well-known folk pioneer Marilyn Monroe’ as orchestra director George Hinchcliffe puts it, before plunging into a sugary sweet cover of Teenage Kicks by Irish proto-punks The Undertones.

Better yet is their version of Anarchy in the UK as sung by Simon and Garfunkel, which has the entire crowd, from tots to pensioners, hollering along with approval. With perfect comic timing, the line ‘I use anarchy’ is altered to ‘I use the ukulele!’ It’s pure punk in its playfulness, only with better elocution and less flying spittle.

There is no mistaking the Ukulele Orchestra for a novelty covers band though. Their set may be a grab-bag of pop classics, from Isaac Hayes to The Who, but their playing is virtuosic, a showcase of what the ukelele is capable of. The arrangements are incredibly inventive, bringing a new lease of life to each song, and the vocal harmonies are spine-tingling.

At times too the song choices are inspired. Hinchcliffe turns Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights into an easy listening croon, while uke-master George Formby’s Leaning on a Lamppost is reinvented as a Russian balalaika ditty. As the Orchestra close with one of their amazing medleys, Fly Me off the Handel, the crowd is in ukulele heaven, screaming for more. The ‘precious little’, as the orchestra dub their instrument, is in safe hands.

TOM MIDLANE