What’s that? A bunch of dapper chaps in sharp suits and fedoras have been seen shuffling from bar to bar heading to Cowley Road? And they’re carrying an odd jumble of brass instruments, a double bass, washboard and pushing a piano?

It can, of course, mean only one thing… it’s time for Oxford’s most raucous Christmas celebration: The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band Knees-Up.

The decadent gathering, which takes place upstairs at the O2 Academy Oxford tomorrow, is the place to get your festive season off to a real swing.

Fronted by charismatic (and occasionally sober) bandleader Stuart Macbeth, the band combine expert musicianship with driving rhythms and a sense of abandon, which makes their parties a hedonistic dream.

This year’s bash features special guest appearances by the Knights of Mentis, The Balkan Wanderers and Bang Tail Feathers – all of whom are worth coming out for alone.

So slip into something elegant, put a shine on those dancing shoes, and get yourself down to the biggest party night of the year.

Tickets are £8 from ticketweb.co.uk

* With all that tinsel and cheer, it’s hard to look beyond Christmas, but our sights are already focussed on next summer, with the county’s music festivals drip-feeding their line-ups.

The latest is Fairport’s Cropredy Convention, which has announced its first acts for the event, from August 11-13.

It will come as no surprise at all to learn that festival organisers Fairport Convention will open and close the event. Also up are fab four tribute band The Bootleg Beatles, folk-rockers Steeleye Span, singer-songwriter Ralph McTell, prog-rockers Gryphon, power-rockers Wille and the Bandits, melodic pop act CoCo and the Butterfields, girl duo Sound of the Sirens, comic bluegrass rock imitators Hayseed Dixie and veteran entertainer Richard Digance.

Pre-Christmas three-day festival tickets cost £120, are exclusively available from fairportconvention.com, and could make a great present.