Review: The Jive Aces, Portsmouth Guildhall

To be fair to The Jive Aces, they tried their level best to drum up a barnstorming atmosphere.

But, enthusiastic as the Portsmouth Guildhall crowd were, it was never going to be easy with just a few hundred clustered downstairs in the cavernous auditorium.

‘I reckon we could get us all into one selfie’ quipped lead singer Ian Clarkson as he gazed out at rows of empty seats. A big contrast, as he observed, to a few hours before hand when the band sent almost 2,000 schoolchildren wild with excitement as they went through their mostly-fast paces at a Portsmouth Music Hub extravaganza.