Live Review: Craig Charles

Having seen former Red Dwarf star Norman Lovett — he played the original Holly — only the night before at Rhino Room perform his stand-up, tonight was Craig Charles (aka Dave Lister)'s turn to perform. But rather than tell jokes and quirky stories like Lovett, Charles hit the decks for 90 minutes of funk, disco and soul. Entering the stage, he announced, "My name's Craig Charles and we play funk, and we play soul." There was an air of expectation, everyone was there to see him and he didn't disappoint.

Charles must have an impressive record collection, because he pulled out some real gems. Right from the word go he had the dancefloor jumping with a Marvin Gaye classic, Got To Give It Up. This track was recently made a little bit more recognisable due to Robin Thicke borrowing heavily from it and getting sued by the Gaye estate. Then he dropped a slice of soul classic in the form of Just Brothers' Sliced Tomatoes (from 1972). Check this out on YouTube right now! Charles, looking dapper in his amber-tinted glasses and leather jacket, stepped it up a notch with each song and the crowd lapped it up. The mixed crowd pulled all sorts of moves out of the bag.

Continuing on past midnight and into the new day, out came some more classics from Wilson Pickett, Kool & The Gang and the one, the only Stevie Wonder. In fact, Charles managed to slip two Stevie Wonder tracks into his set. Just observing Charles, in between dance moves, you could clearly see he was enjoying himself and he even played air guitar a few times! He occasionally lifted his eyes to watch the crowd, who were under his spell.

Charles finished up with the track Man Of Constant Sorrow, most famous from the George Clooney film O Brother, Where Art Thou?. After dancing solidly for 90 minutes, it was good to have a comedown at the end of the set. Ten out of ten goes to Craig Charles tonight.