The ‘Skiffle-pop Rascals’ made their comeback to the Free Stage with a funky and fresh vibe to kickstart 2018’s Cheltenham Jazz Festival.
Coloured flags were draped over the heads of people, drinking beer on stalls at the front, counting down the minutes for a feelgood session of fun music – impossible to stand still to. “You feeling jazzy?” they intrude the wait, chanting “Hotel Motel” warming up their voices, and familiarising Cheltenham with who they are, a local trio whose goal is to get everyone up on their feet and moving – mission complete.
Putting their stamp on each song, they’ve proved that if they have fun, everyone else does. With Robbie Pert on vocals and guitar, Andrew Lansley on bass and backing, and Pete Harper on cajon, there was a buzz to be in Cheltenham that night, with the whole of the marquee nodding their heads and tapping their feet to their 90s medley that combined Hotel Motel, La Freak and Thriller into one. Eyes were glued to the stage from start to finish.
Thrill Collins have been together since 2009, they uphold their infectious energy that appeals to all walks of life; mothers, brothers, kids, jazz enthusiasts, first-timers, and students. They integrate everyone as they all love a bit of S Club 7. “90s or 80s guys?” They listen to us bicker and respond: “Oooh, the tables are turning.” The umming and ahhing begins to the intro to Five’s ‘Keep on Moving’, with the other two harmonising to his funk tone, merging into ‘All Night Long’ with the added ‘aaaaaay jungle jungle’.It was now the time of the set to mix it up a bit, show what they could do. So far, we’ve had their spin on Lionel Ritchie and the King of Pop, next was Craig David and Flo Rida, in their words, “garage festival 2018”. The buzz of ‘Re-e-wind, when the crowd say bo selecta’ scored fists in the air, mixed into the iconic: ‘Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin alive’. As a band, you have that practice of knowing what gets people moving and talking, whether the vibe is club DJ or disco Saturday Night Fever, (although, he asked for a bit of help with the high notes.) Instead of the expectation of sudden shift changes between each song, one flowed into the other, unnoticed, making it feel continual.They had an undeniable spark, with a shared creativity on the spot. It felt spontaneous and casual: ‘you ready for the next one’. Humming to the tune in between their go to sing, and, back-and-forth banter – it was just like watching a miraculously refined British sitcom.Their own definition of Peter Andre’s Mysterious Girl was new and relevant, and after the sea of bodies swaying to the words, before we knew it, the trio were competing in a song battle riff-off. Starting with Pert breaking into song with Beautiful Girls (Sean Kingston), Lansley quickly turned against it with Tay-Tay’s Blank Space, followed by Pete, sat in the middle of the two showed them how it’s done with Ben E King’s Stand by Me.
The final product of their time was made up of Will Smith’s hits – a jumping phenomenon. Beginning with the start of Smith’s legendary theme tune, ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel Air’ along with ‘Miami’, ‘Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It’, ‘Men in Black’ and finishing the rest of the rap to wrap it all up. They were hands down the start to the festival we all wanted, flashbacks to the 80’s, 90’s and noughties, and played it cool by slotting Kanye somewhere in the mix. To sum up, an hour on stage was nowhere near enough time for these guys.