What could possibly liven up a trip to the gym? You choose your weights or an exercise bike then stick your Ipod on shuffle and brace yourself for aches and pains the morning after your muscles give up on you for daring to punish them so cruelly.

But let’s add a twist- your iPod starts with a burst, and whatever’s on your headphones comes to life in front of you. That’s the sensation I felt watching the Scissor Sisters - Jake Shears looking like a camp PE teacher as he bounced through a set which felt rather like a workout. The warm-up was brief, the exercises becoming more intense as the Sisters got going, taking in the hits which made their name (Take Your Mama going down particularly well, though I’m not sure my own mother would necessarily approve), I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’ (a co-write with Sir Elton John, whose influence prevails throughout their career. See also Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) and this year’s remix album Good Morning To The Night, in collaboration with Pnau), and Kiss You Off showing off a certain athleticism and dance-ability to boot.

Scissor Sisters

But could he keep it up? You bet he could. Not that it was all about Shears, though he was scoring plenty of home runs for showmanship. Equally adept when called upon to bat was Ana Matronic, for whom every night seems a party, crowd banter coming to her as easily as her come-hither vocals are allowed to shine when she can grab the microphone from her equally show-stopping friend out front. It would be unfair to dwell on just these two, though. Especially when you have a guitarist like Del Marquis, all flashy hooks, crowd-pleasing moves and Bacofoil trousers, and Babydaddy- whose drumming gave each and every song the necessary ‘oomph’ to get people moving, a trick learnt well after hours of listening to nothing but the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack on this evidence, the jive talking on the floor getting louder as the night went on, a noble contribution to sign language by the Bee Gees you might argue, especially if you happen to be Barry Gibb…………

And they even have an unlikely celebrity fan, or at least an incredibly good lookalike- Bill Oddie appeared to be in the audience, a few seats down from my good self. I dare say it was worth bunking off from filming Springwatch to come and hear what is essentially good old fashioned pop/disco with more than a hint of raunch. If nothing else the nation’s favourite ex-Goodie and beardy birdwatcher has something to tell Kate Humble between takes- and if its good enough for him it’s only right that it be good enough for the rest of us, the trick of turning Monday night into Saturday most certainly better and harder to pull off than spotting a bearded tit, though I can now proudly say I’ve done both. What more can you ask for?

http://www.scissorsisters.com/