If you were lucky enough to have grown up in the late ’80s and early ’90s, you probably remember the sheer joy of listening – and singing along – to the music of kids’ show presenter Peter Combe. With his uncanny knack for a catchy tune, this pied paper of Adelaide made everything seem that much more fun. What a treat it is, then, to be able to turn back the clock to those childhood years at Peter Combe’s latest show at Perth’s Fringe World.

Performing with his backing band, the Clicketty Canes, it is clear right from the get-go that the man himself has lost none of his musical chops. Indeed, he appears to be so unmarked by time that you get the uneasy sense that it is only you who have been doing the growing up. With not one bum note or strained vocal, the songs magically ring out as clearly as they did nearly thirty years ago.

Like a contagion, the joy up on the stage spills out into the audience, whereby hands start to clap and voices lift. In fact, Combe and company manage to keep the audience in this state of blissful abandon for so long that by the show’s end there are raucous calls for an encore from those already suffering from withdrawal.

Forget ‘La La Land’, if you want musical staying power, Peter Combe is about as good as it gets. Chris Prindiville