THE LONDON COMMUNITY GOSPEL CHOIR at The Oxford Playhouse

'Gosh, not even a clap!' exclaimed the keyboard man with a grin as he wandered on stage, and although we may not have applauded right then, we certainly made up for it later. This unpretentious and deeply talented gospel choir, who resemble an extended band with their drummer, keyboard, guitar and bass, had us clapping, swaying, waving and wiggling until we could wiggle no more. No embellishment is needed when such powerful voices join together, and at points the pure volume of sound was almost overwhelming. The choir sang a variety of songs from the traditional gospel hymn to chart hits and almost house style improvisations. Bridge Over Troubled Water was particularly strong, while the highlight of the evening came in the second half. The instrumental was turned off to leave the choir to carry the music on the power of their own voices. The effect left us breathless with amazement, for the richness, depth, and sheer strength of the voices was outstanding. When the jazzy, nightclub style of the backing was taken away, the clarity of these voices acting as one voice carried the performance to new heights. I found myself torn between appreciation of the practised and perfected songs of a highly trained Gospel choir, singing without backing, and enjoying the lighter hits and improvisations with a more modern feel. All the choir are clearly enjoying themselves thoroughly, and their love of pure music evokes the same enthusiasm in the audience. Equally, the thing that really made this show an outstanding success was the welcoming and appreciative audience who managed to extract further energy from the choir. The conductress too could also be said to be one of the most energetic and lively members. We only saw her back, but the back certainly moved, as if she was trying to pull the sound out of the choir in front of her. The keyboard man rightly compared the show to an aerobics class. After every song we sank exhausted to our seats while the choir mopped its brow. But the cries for 'more! more!' at the end of the performance summed up the success of this band, for, however exhausted, the whooping audience clamoured for more. The quality of the evening was indubitable, and I would hope, as the band did, that a return visit will be forthcoming.

Jane Labous