After disappearing from our lives for the best part of two years, I'm slightly nervous about seeing The Bees again and have 1,001 questions running through my head.

Have they still got their magic? Will their new stuff be any good? Will that huge, bearded bloke play the trumpet? And is the extremely chilled woolly-hatted organ tickler/percussionist still in the band?

The Bees @ The Wedge

As we waited for the lads to take to the stage I was relieved to see that they had just as much gear as before - as well as the usual guitars, drums etc. I spotted trumpets, tambourines and a selection of maracas and bells.

The sound of crashing waves blasted out from the speakers and the six lads ambled onto the stage to a warm welcome from the crowd who cheered, clapped and yelled out "The Isle Of Wight!" and "We Love The Bees!"

They kicked off with a new tune which had surprisingly heavy rock guitars - but the hints of funk and their trademark Caribbean flavours were still there.

The Bees @ The Wedge

Before we'd had a chance to catch our breath the opening chords of the infectious A Minha Menina blasted out. With its Cuban trumpet bursts and Latino vibe the whole crowd were soon strutting their stuff.

The Bees played effortlessly together - they swapped instruments throughout the set with the bass player playing guitar and drums, the keyboard player moving to bass and trumpet and frontman Paul playing the guitar, trumpet and tambourine.

Their new material is quite simply stunning and varied from upbeat, summery funk grooves to rockin' guitars, stripped down 60's mod-feel drums and epic knee trembling organ arrangements.

The Bees @ The Wedge

They saved the first release from their forthcoming album, Wash In The Rain for the end of the set. With its twitchy, jangly guitar, huge slabs of bass and singalong chorus it went down a storm.

After another set of musical chairs for their final song, with Paul ending up on the drums - they played an instrumental funk number with a Latino vibe that you couldn't possibly keep still to.

With beaming smiles they said their thank you's, waved good-bye and headed off into the darkness. We hollered and stamped for more and they came back with one final treat for us - a swaggering blues/rock number which
showed just how versatile they are.

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