Wow! Went along to Ukulele Wednesday last night, full of trepidation. Well, it was a new environment for me and I didn't know what to expect. And my ukulele skills are pretty rudimentary. But...

In a word: fantasmorgasmic.

Starting fairly slowly from about 7 o'clock and through many phases of anarchy and mayhem, by 9 o'clock there were upwards of thirty, probably towards fifty ukes all thrashing away through "modern folk" classics and everyone shouting out the songs with such unrestrained, uninhibited enthusiasm, it was easy to understand why I managed to miss a couple of trains and had to reluctantly drag myself away. There were a couple of people who sort of ran it in that they'd shout out the name of the next song and start off, but at in between times it was complete havoc. Totally brilliant. And cos ukes are so small you don't all need the half acre of space that a similar gathering of guitarists would need, so everybody's jammed up close.

In no particular order here are just some of the songs that were done. Some you'd expect, some surprises:

In the Midnight Hour (Madonna)
Valerie (Zutons)
Hit the Road Jack
City of New Orleans
I Want to be Like You (Jungle Book)
Delilah
Bad Moon Rising
I'm a Believer
Creep (Radiohead)
Sloop John B

Oh, and there was a TV crew form Austria there. Apparently they often have TV crews filming the goings on.

I'll definitely go again. Mental but brilliant.

Ukulele Wednesday is in the Royal George, near Centrepoint (Tottenham Court Road tube) every Wednesday from 7 o'clock. Try The Mighty Ukulele for listings of clubs near you (in the UK).

Or this link to Ukulele Wednesday's MySpace site

Such fun!!