Oli P.

If you have ever set foot in to a cheesy’s night out at your local club, partaken in any kind of karaoke contest or simply have ironic taste in music, then it is almost certain that you will have heard and, therefore, loved Rednex classic ‘Cotton eye Joe’: an anthem in its own right, this song has become one of the most popular dance tunes of all time. A combination of a mockery of American ‘red necks’ and of the distortion of a once beloved traditional folk-song, ‘Cotton eye Joe’ is a piece of pure brilliance. Hilarious, catchy and cheesy as hell. The crowd were in an absolute uproar when the first lyrics were suddenly belted out and by the time the instrumental had kicked in, the entire audience were all swinging each other round and square dancing as if we had been transported back to the wild west and were all pros at the hoedown throw-down. It was an extremely surreal experience yet, without a doubt, one of the funniest and most lively concert experiences I have ever been part of. Although I had not heard of any of the other hits that the Swedish band performed, I was pleasantly surprised, especially by ballad ‘Wish you were here’ which couldn’t have been further away from ‘Cotton eye Joe’ if they had tried, and ‘Old pop in an oak’ that was basically ‘Cotton Eye Joe’ all over again, and hence received the same brilliant reaction.