Things start to warm up around a version of an old song by 70s Brazilian art-rockers Os Mutantes, then new song Let Love be the Answer, with the vocals turning impassioned, and two trumpets blasting out, Motown-style, with keyboards. It's around now that the groove starts to tighten, and the Bees' awesome eclecticism starts to kick in. Over the next few songs, funk, psychedelia, reggae and jazz all flit through with as much as ease as the band's exchange of instruments between songs. The crowd are now ready for favourites from last album, Free the Bees, and get them. Horsemen rides on a crunching guitar riff, The Russian combines reggae with cossack, and hit single Chicken Payback is the crowd-pleaser, as bizarre and irresistible as ever. Pretty good going for a rainy Sunday night.

Writer: Tom Conway