Anything Goes with Antony Elvin

It’s for reasons like this that I love London. Sunday night, upstairs at The Star pub in Tufnell Park, Anything Goes Sunday Club takes place. Hosted by the lovely Hatty Ashdown, sporting clown’s feet and a rather grand stuffed crow, the evening does exactly what it says on the tin.

It was like stepping into a parallel universe where the more eccentric you are, the more you fit in. The room was packed with up-and-coming comedians and we enjoyed varied sets from the likes of Catie Wilkins, Dan Cardwell, Johnny Armstrong, Gareth Berliner and Jessie Morgan, all of whom added their own slice of eccentricity to the pie.

We were captivated by the hilarious Ross Lee. Standing on the table, singing Alice Cooper with such energy, it was exhausting to watch. Amid pumpkins, tales about the demise of a spider named Godfrey and a minor ambush by a small dog called Albert Pickles, the chaos was unleashed. Half expecting him to start swinging from the light fitting, his energy was infective and lifted the entire room.

Jim’ll’s Brain ended the evening with a short set of his unique, energetic tongue-in-cheek acoustic pop including Stalk You, about, well, stalking. You get the picture.

However, the highlight of the evening’s events was Antony Elvin, the London-based balladeer. Taking to the floor barefoot in medieval white breeches, he promised an ‘angst-free set’ and didn’t fail to deliver. He was joined by the remarkable Will Summers who played flute and various crumhorns!

Opening with Fancyman, he followed with old favourites Sebastian; charting his failure in the world of gay, and Trousers of Parliament.  The first set ended with a new song, Regina which showed off some pretty impressive flamenco-style guitar. After the break, he galloped through the rest of his set, interspersing songs and comedic banter with the ‘pretty baubles in the room’. Recalling a past incident with the Mighty Boosh’s Noel Fielding, he sang the ever-popular Among the Dandies before ending the set with Legs Eleven (‘I like a bit of fine shag, I’ll pop it in your pipe now’).

An eccentric English gent, whimsical ditties and every word he says dripping with innuendo, you might be thinking, a mere novelty artiste – not so! More a modern day Noel Coward, with vocals to rival Scott Walker and guitar skills that are some of the best I’ve seen, Antony Elvin is an enigma and certainly one of London’s best kept musical secrets.

The small crowd was in no way a reflection of the quality of the acts and I can only put it down to lacklustre locals recovering from the Halloween revelry. There’s a huge amount of talent in London – get out there and see what you’re missing.

www.myspace.com/antonyelvinsongs
www.myspace.com/theanythinggoessundayclub