Guaranteed to raise a smile

The Better are one of the, er, better cover bands around. Actually, they're more of a tribute band than a cover band. From the 1964-style suits and tight-as-you-like harmonies to the Hofner-esque violin bass and classic Ringo stick clutch, The Better go for the whole Beatles shebang. The songs are pretty much note-perfect, too - all those middle-eights and drum fills that have been seared into your consciousness are faithfully replicated. Indeed they put on a show so convincing that if you drank eight pints, stood at the back of the room and squinted your eyes a bit, you might even think, if only for a fleeting second, that they were the Fab Four themselves.

The Better seem equally at home with both early period pop frippery and the patchouli soaked intensity of the Fabs later work, making for a fun set list: The genius that is While My Guitar Gently Weeps, for example, falls effortlessly into the throwaway roustabout of I Saw Her Standing There.

And, credit where credit's due, they don't play too safe. The Beatles merely had to belch and they had a No.1 (17 in the UK, 21 in the US fact fans), but mixed in with the Get Backs and the I Feel Fines, The Better manage to fit in a few less obvious numbers, such as You're Gonna Lose That Girl and I Need You from 1965's Help!

They pull a good crowd, too. A real mix of Thais and foreigners, many of them repeat customers drawn back by the atmosphere. And you can see why they return: The Better have an infectious enthusiasm, grinning and jiving like Yoko and the Frog Chorus never happened.

Early evening head nodding and foot tapping gives way to energetic twisting and hollering as the show grooves on. In between sets, punters come up to ask for photos and the band, who all seem like thoroughly decent chaps, always agree, posing with generous smiles.

O'Reilly's actually makes a pretty good venue. Not normally a fan of Silom's self-styled ''Thairish'' pub, I was impressed with the atmosphere and how good the band sounded. If Patpong, a couple of sois down the way, is Bangkok's Reeperbahn, then O'Reilly's will do just fine as our own Kaiserkeller.

local relating to an area near you particularly especially tunes songs hum to sing without opening your mouth canny clever and able to think quickly, especially about money or business stuff used to refer to a substance or a group of things or ideas, etc., without saying exactly what they are tribute something which you do or say to show that you respect and admire someone shebang the whole of something, including everything that is connected with it seared having the surface burned quickly with intense heat consciousness the state of being awake and able to think and notice things

faithfully in a loyal way replicated made or did something again in exactly the same way squinted looked at something with your eyes partly closed fleeting second a very short period of time the Fab Four the Beatles frippery silly decoration or other useless object patchouli a plant and an oil that was commonly used during the 1960s effortlessly achieved without trying very hard roustabout a person whose job involves heavy unskilled work belch to make a sudden noise as air from your stomach comes out through your mouth obvious easy to understand or see

pull (a good crowd) attract (a good crowd) atmosphere the feeling which exists in a place or situation infectious laughter or feelings that quickly spread from one person to another enthusiasm when you feel very keen about something grinning having a big smile jiving dancing around in a fast kind of way hollering shouting or calling loudly punters customers at a pub chaps men Reeperbahn a place in Germany famous for it's bars and prostitutes Kaiserkeller the bar where the Beatles performed