Bungles Finger at the Fox and Duck

I used to go to the Fox and Duck on a Saturday night if one of my favourite bands was playing, Echoes or Thin White Duke, then my list of favourite bands started to grow to include bands like Prezence and now I go almost every Saturday irrespective of who is playing.

I also wanted to see Bungles Finger because the lady behind it all, Louisa Biswas,said that it was one of the pub's favourite bands.

As is often the case, I had a theatre date first so I did not get there until 10:30 so I missed the start of their set but I still saw enough of them to learn what they do.

I arrived as they were playing Pretty Vacant, which was a pretty good start. I, of course, bought it the day it first came out in 1977 and it was good to see so many people who were not born then singing along to it.

Soon after that they played The Buzzcocks' Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't 've) from '78 and, for me, that proved to be the song that best described their sound.

But the nice thing about Bungles Finger is that they step well away from early punk and they play an outrageous range of songs including, while I was there, I Predict a Riot, Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting and Walk Like an Egyptian.

And they ended the evening with Andy Williams' Can't Take my Eyes off You. Unexpected and brilliant.

Bungles Finger were a great deal of fun. They played some great songs and they played them well. They are another band I've added to my favourites list. They'll be back at the Fox and Duck on 9 August and 29 November, and so will I. And next time I'll wear black like everybody else rather than a theatre-friendly flowery shirt.