Live Review: Bobby Keys & The Suffering Bastards

Up the grandiose marble staircase and past the pie, chips and fried dim-sim buffet, the crowd gathers within the kitschy and cavernous Thornbury Theatre. This grand old dame is ageing gracefully into the perfect hipster wedding reception venue.

Legendary saxophonist Bobby Keys & (the most awesomely named) The Suffering Bastards welcome “y'all” with their drawling Southern accents. No longer playing with good mates The Rolling Stones due to well known tragic circumstances, Keys presses on with his rowdy sideshows. This crowd is comprised mostly of laidback Baby Boomers. Keys and his quintet band of bastards just explode with mastery. Dean Baird of The Georgia Satellites-fame stands to the left of Keys, providing lead vocals throughout. Ripping through hits by The Rolling Stones, Joe Cocker and Dion, Keys effortlessly blows out the punchy saxophonic riffs despite an evident attempt to suck up some age-related hip pain. Keys' Harlem Nocture lead sax instrumental nevertheless floods the theatre with a jazzy film noir gloom, knocking the crowd straight into a hypnotic silence.

Keys casually name-drops heaven's resident Beatles George Harrison and John Lennon, old mates he recorded with on their respective solo tracks: What Is Life and Whatever Gets You Thru The Night. Keys confirms his 100 per cent legit coolness by mentioning old times living next door to John Lennon, back in the day “before Yoko got wind of it”.  The piercing sax intro and solos on Lennon's rollicking smash hit are perfectly replicated onstage, much to the crowd's utter delight. The Suffering Bastards give Keys a performance-enhancing break with down-and-dirty track Keep Your Hands To Yourself and an empathetic ode to all the husbands present with You Look Like I Could Use A Drink. No need to worry about the pain, Keys returns on stage declaring he's drunk enough to persist – pro-rockstar form.

Taking it down a notch with smooth instrumental Soul Serenade, the crowd is lulled into their own private bubbles with no need to think, just feel. The last song of the night brings the beat right back with The Rolling Stones' Happy – yes kids, long before Pharrell there was Keys' dear friend and favourite philosopher Keith Richards writing fun tracks about the elusive pursuit of happiness. Unnecessarily thanking everyone for sticking around, Keys & The Suffering Bastards exit after two hours of superstar-standard rocking and rolling. Silver fox Bobby Keys has still got what it takes, y'all.