Heavy mental guitarists

I DON'T think anyone realised the truly anarchic qualities of Paul Morocco until he started firing ping-pong balls from his mouth and into the audience.

The performance had begun with a session of bluesy guitar-playing by Antonio Forcione. It seemed that we were in for an evening of jokesy, virtuoso instrumentalising. How wrong we were.

Morocco, Forcione and Alessandro Russo, guitars aloft, strode around the stage plucking liberties with their instruments. This was flamenco playing in formation - despite the fact the trio are all Italian or Italian-American rather than Spanish - you just had to beware of low-flying guitars.

Then came the juggling. I don't know how many ping-pong balls Paul Morocco was able to secrete in his mouth; I just know that each time they flew up in the air and he stood agape to catch them, my stomach turned. It was just the thing for the children.

Audience participation - and ritual humiliation - was de rigueur. Ping-pong balls, oranges and eggs travelled between stage and stalls and balcony as Morocco teased, taunted and captivated his audience. A line was not even drawn at flaming torches.

Forcione and Russo, alternating between acoustic and amplified, sound-effected guitars provided Morocco with the perfect musical back-up, drawing from a limitless vocabulary of tunes from the Harry Lime theme to the Pink Panther to rock 'n' roll. 'Antonio Hendrix and his heavy mental flamenco,' quipped Morocco after a particular show of dexterity by Forcione (who also performed an exceptional piece of solo guitar playing, laden with haunting harmonics).