Abbey Gardens, Bury St Edmunds

>Abbey Gardens, Bury StEdmunds

There are certainly worse places to listen to music than the gentile surroundings of Bury St Edmund's Abbey Gardens.

And the Beatles and Beach Boys tribute act were certainly more lively than the pigeons and pushchairs that these gardens are used to.

As the late evening sunlight filtered through the trees, the UK Beach Boys brought a taste of sunshine, California-style that was just right at the end of a scorching hot day. There was more quiet enjoyment than rapturous applause, but young and old seemed to be having a good time. Especially the ladies — these were definitely not girls — bopping away as if they were teenagers again.

Classic like Surfin' USA and California Dreamin' didn't sound quite as good as they did in the 1960s, but the Hawaiian shirts were as bright as ever.

Even the policemen were swaying to the last song, Barbara Ann.

Shortly afterwards the Bandit Beatles brought a touch more musical complexity to the evening. They might not have been the Fab Four, but they got full marks for effort. Their experience — the Bandit Beatles have been going for 12 years — certainly showed. The clothes, the wisecracks and especially the haircuts were spot on. Love Me Do, they sang and indeed we did.

As the stars began to come out above the ruins it had been, if not the greatest concert, a pretty fine sing-a-long.