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It must be difficult to be the soundtrack of a summer past. Just as The Thrills discovered a few years ago, you shimmy your way into sun kissed people's affections and provide the perfect backdrop for drunken beach fumblings and sand-caked crevices. Unfortunately when you come back you find you've shed critics the same way that most people peel sunburnt skin. It's the indie equivalent of a holiday fling.

Well maybe you shouldn't have handed them your phone number because The Magic Numbers are back in town to promote their second album 'Those The Brokes.' The album has been met with something more akin to a yawn than a rating system in a number of magazines. But for those who aren't ashamed of your past peak season excesses it's an album that should be welcomed. In Derry that welcome is deeply felt, maybe it's no small coincidence that this is the town that produced the classic 'Here Comes The Summer'.

The Derry audience at The Nerve Centre aren't so much concerned with who is the morbid lank-haired distortion pedal merchant du jour. If it's upbeat, got good harmonies and leaves a floor bouncing like Tigger having an epileptic fit then they're up for it and let's just say poor Tigger wouldn't have survived this one. From the moment the brother sister combos of the Stodarts and Gannons take to the stage this is a bounce-fest to rival no other. You don't have much a choice. The floor did most of the bouncing for you.

The tone was pretty much up beat through out as The Magic Numbers played to their up tempo music with downbeat lyrics strength. They didn't hammer home the new album either, making sure they kept the balance strong between the crowd-friendly and the promotional. New album opener 'This Is A Song' kicked off the set well and set the scene well.

They came very close to peaking early with an early combo of 'Forever Lost,' 'Love Is A Game,' 'I See You. You See Me' and last single 'Take A Chance' which left ardent set list followers wondering where they could take it from their having fired out so many of their singles in quick succession. Luckily this had the effect of totally winning over the audience so that they would give a lot of the new songs of the second half a listen the highlights of these would be the Angela Gannon fronted 'Undecided' and appropriately named slow song 'Slow Down'; complete with Kate Bush 'Running Up That Hill' alternative ending.

As Michele Stodart rocked out with festive reindeer ears and Romeo beamed his large bearded smile, it was clear to see that The Magic Numbers were bouncy flouncy fun fun fun fun to make Tigger proud.

A summer romance rekindled on a rainy December night.

Peter Davidson
Photo by Alan Maguire