Gary Williams: A Swinging Christmas, Crazy Coqs - music review

Cheeky patter and moments of hilarity were as much a part of the former Rat Pack star's show as heartfelt musings on lost loved ones and friendship
Old school charm: Gary Williams
Jane Cornwell18 December 2014

A smile, a wink and a smooth-as-silk take on Winter Wonderland, and Gary Williams was off the stage and down among his fans. “Nice to see you,” he said, roaming around shaking hands, all old school charm and Sinatra-esque charisma.

It’s no wonder, really, why Christmas shows by the likeable, Grimsby-born Williams sell out. This one, at nearly two hours long, with two sets’ worth of seasonable songs, carols and not-so-wild cards including lush renditions of Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now and Carole King’s You’ve Got a Friend, felt faultless.

The former Rat Pack star and internationally-acclaimed chanteur has the sort of warm, easy baritone suited to standards made famous by the likes of Nat King Cole, Andy Williams and Bing Crosby.

“Octave change!” yelled Williams to pianist Matt Regan as we sang along, song sheets in hand, to White Christmas; cheeky patter and moments of hilarity were as much a part of the evening as heartfelt musings on lost loved ones and friendship.

After a rousing Those Were the Days, Williams and Regan donned Santa hats for The 12 Days of Christmas, then had us all standing, holding hands and belting out Auld Lang Syne. The jolliest sleigh ride in town.

Until December 23 (brasseriezedel.com/crazy-coqs)

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in