THE idea was bizarre - though irresistible: Oxford’s dapper seven-piece jazz-swing band launch their own brand of cider - and celebrate the occasion with a saturday night party in a busy restaurant.

With a band as notoriously hedonistic as the Rabbit Foots, what, you may well ask, could possibly go right?

For a group who seem to live by night, the band looked slightly out of place early on Saturday evening - squinting like owls who have woken up too early, as they sat, in sharp suits, fedoras and trilbies, getting stuck into king-sized glasses of red wine in the corner of a packed Big Bang.

The place, though, was heaving with customers tucking into trenchers of sausage and mash, while those who had come just to see the bands snaked around the tables in single file to the bar to get their bottles of Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band Cider. And very nice it was too.

After some vague wrangling over noise issues (that old chestnut) Oxford’s foot-stomping Americana band Swindlestock, took their places near the door for a typically punchy set of country-rock. Looking like a cross between red-neck Texan truckers, an indie-rock band and a sexy gypsy swing ensemble, they strummed, fiddled and sang their way through a scorching set of bluegrass-flavoured folk-rock.

And with the cider flowing, what had seemed like a flash mob in the corner of a restaurant of bemused diners, began to feel like a proper gig.

The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band come across as a louche bunch of hard-drinking party animals. And, indeed they are. But they are also consummate professionals and never put a foot wrong live. And, after five years of seeing them play live, this was probably their finest hour. Or, rather two hours.

Bandleader Stuart Macbeth looked instantly at home as he hammered away at a brand new, gleaming-white baby grand piano, which must now be in need of some major structural repairs. The tunes came thick and fast as the set gathered momentum, and the audience followed suit - with the space in front of the band soon filled with jiving, swinging bodies and beaming faces.

Old familiar tunes like the frenetically energetic Grandpa's Shed, the deliciously sleazy Shanghai Fanny, the salty reel of Pirates and call and response favourite Eadie Was A Lady, were interspersed with new ‘English blues’ songs - Great Outdoors, Chapel in the Pines, Swingers, Eynsham Witches, and new live favourites the Calypso-flavoured Rochdale Pioneers and King of Wine.

Macbeth alternately growled, crooned and serenaded his way through his own compositions, which, wicked lyrics aside, sound like they are straight out of a 1920s speakeasy.

The signing up of virtuoso trumpeter Martin Watermelons has been a triumph for the side, his clear notes rising like smoke above Macbeth’s keys, while ‘Red’ Wilkins and John ‘Muggsy’ West’s turbo-charged thrilled and occasionally seduced.

Guitarist Carlo Matassa is something of a legend - a star in his right, who reigns in the rock for warm strings with flashes of magic. He is also the only member of the band to lend his name to a song: new tune Matassa’s Ice Cream Parlour. Quite an honour!

The surprise came with a guest collaboration from Reading’s self-styled “Voodoo sci-fi blues” act, Vienna Ditto Singer Hattie Taylor smouldering as her gorgeous voice added just the right note of sultry glamour to the century-old blues classic Careless Love.

It was a captivating performance, and we didn’t want it too end. But, after a punchy encore and yet more frenzied dancing, the show culminated with their traditional rendition of the National Anthem.

It was a classic show which sent everyone away beaming. How much of that was down to the cider, we’ll probably never know.