UKULELE ORCHESTRA OF GREAT BRITAIN

No drums. No pianos. No banjos. No electronic trickery. Just ukes…and singing…and a bit of whistling. Don’t let the formal wear fool you; a concert by the Ukulele Orchestra is a virtuosic, funny, awesome, foot-stomping event, a collision of rock-n-roll, light entertainment, post-punk, and toe-tapping oldies. Formed in 1985 just for fun, their first gig was a sell-out, and they’ve been at it ever since with sold-out concerts around the globe, happily taking the blame for the current ukulele revival. These first-rate artists slide easily from Tchaikovsky to Nirvana, maybe with a touch of Otis Redding in between. As one critic suggested, it’s just one plucking thing after another.