There are few bands that can fill a two and a half hour playlist with performances of all their chart hits but The Manfreds can do this with ease.

The seven strong band consisting of four original members of Manfred Mann: Paul Jones, Mike d’Abo, Tom McGuinness and Mike Hugg with Rob Townsend, Marcus Cliffe and Simon Currie delivered a stylish mash up of greatest hits fused with a shot of rhythm and blues at Newport Riverfront on Thursday evening.

Kicking off with 1967’s upbeat Ha! Ha! Said The Clown with Mike d’Abo on vocals, this lead neatly into Paul Jones performance of 1965’s Sha La La. Both vocalists delivered impeccable performances sounding as they did on the original Manfred Mann records.

There were also welcome diversions into the bands individual talents. Mike d’Abo performed a memorable composer’s version of his song Handbags and Gladrags which was covered by The Stereophonics some years ago. Paul Jones and Tom McGuinness also got to perform some of their hits from outside the Manfred’s including Jones 1967 outing I’ve Been a Bad Bad Boy and McGuinness Flint’s 1970 classic When I’m Dead and Gone.

As the concert drew to a close with two Number Ones 1968’s The Mighty Quinn and 1964’s Do Wah Diddy Diddy neither The Manfreds nor the audience showed any signs of wavering.

An encore consisting of The Manfred’s signature debut hit 5-4-3-2-1 blended with Buddy Holly’s Not Fade Away, Bo Diddley and curiously The Scaffold’s Thank U Very Much rounded off a memorable evening of fun and fabulous music from one of the greatest bands from the 1960s.