THEY came, they played and they conquered: Huge packed the Grand Opera House to the rafters yet again, proving the nine-piece "cheesemeisters" are The Ultimate Night Out.

The evening started with Tara Palmer Tomkinson (on a big screen) begging for Huge to appear on "I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here" much to the amazement of the crowd. For the first part of the evening they were dogged by lighting problems, but, ever the professionals, the band played on in the darkness.

After an early break they came back with their new stunning stage and light show, which included a large video screen that had on it, amongst other things, a larger than life sketch from Berwick Kaler and Martin Barrass.

This led into an ambitious but successful attempt to get all the audience, with the help of the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies, to sing Summer Nights from Grease.

The rock 'n' rollers were not only there to add to the stage show though. More seriously they were helping to raise funds for the tsunami appeal, raffling a superb prize donated by Nestl of a day's motor racing.

Money from the sale of programmes also went to the appeal, raising between them the grand total of £1,200.

Huge barnstormed their way through a Stevie Wonder medley, Abba's Waterloo, some Beatles, Robbie, George Michael and The King Of The Swingers, and had added to their repertoire The Proclaimers' I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) complete with suitably silly glasses all round, and, as a treat for all those who have followed the band for years, The Snake.

This was one of the few gigs at the Grand Opera House where Huge had no one else on stage with them, apart from a guest slot by Lowfield pupil Lisa Ward doing an excellent job singing Lulu's part in Relight My Fire.

The freedom this gave the band allowed them to be more relaxed, to change the set list as they pleased, and it showed in the performance as Big Ian held the crowd in the palm of his hand from the first note to the last.

Updated: 10:16 Monday, January 17, 2005