Who Are You at the Fox and Duck (April 16)

I had seen Who Are You? at the Fox and Duck a couple of times previously and while they had entertained me they were never going to make my "A" list simply because they only play Who songs and I was never a big Who fan, I never bought a Who album. That said, live music is still live music and so I wandered down there to see them again.

This was a very different and a much better Who Are You? I did not catch all of the band changes but the most obvious one was that the lead singer had changed and had also been joined by a lead singeress. They both had good strong voices and made a very passable substitute for Roger Daltry.

I thought that the sound that the band made was more solid than previously which may have been because of the other band change, or the sound system, or my failing memory of the last time.

Whatever the differences were, they sounded pretty good to me and the numerous Who fans in the audience, easily identifiable by their t-shirts, were impressed too. There was much singing along and even a little bit of movement that was as close to dancing as 50-something men indulge in.

I still only knew about half the tracks, typically the singles though thanks to a roommate at university I also knew Squeeze Box all too well (it's from the '75 album The Who by Numbers), though that made little difference as most of the ones that I knew were pretty good, as always Won't Get Fooled Again stood out (some people were paused by the quiet bit and clapped too early), and the unknown songs were not bad either.

I was also pleased to hear so many of the early songs from the mid '60s, songs like I'm a Boy and, obviously, My Generation and Substitute.

They got their timing right and finished near enough spot-on midnight. By then we were all very happy as the end of evening group picture proves.

I do not think that I am ever going to fall deeply in love with a Who tribute band simply because they will play Who songs so it is something of an achievement for Who Are You? to entertain me as much as they did.

A fantastic night with Memento at the Fox and Duck

I got this one wrong.

I saw the listing for Memento on LemonRock, saw that they were a new band and so classified their gig at the Fox and Duck as one to go to late if there was nothing better to do, something like a Steven Segal film on ITV. There was no Steven Segal film on ITV that night so I went to see Memento late, getting there around 10:30.

My mistake was immediately obvious.

Not only was the pub packed but there was a lively and happy atmosphere with everybody singing and/or dancing. The picture below is the best that I could do to get one of the band. In that crowd there were several people that I knew, including the famous Ralph who I often see at Hawkwind gigs. Most of the Fox and Duck regulars were there too.

I suspect that, unlike me, some of the people there had paid attention to the poster or knew of the band through some other means. The key words to note include Prezence and Rush.

I had seen Prezence play at the Fox and Duck a couple of times, in 2012 and 2014, and had loved them. If I had known that they had largely been reborn as Memento I would definitely have been there at the start of the evening. Rush are a band that I have loved since Permanent Waves in 1980 and while they can still sell out stadiums they do not often feature in cover bands' set lists.

The one band member that you can see at all clearly in the photo is lead singer Tamas Csemez who also fronted Prezence. Most, if not all, of the cover bands that come to the Fox and Duck are competent, or better, musicians but if there is a common weakness it is in the vocalists. Not here. I thought that Tamas made all the difference to the band and I was pleased to be able to tell him that afterwards. Of course the rest of the band had to play their parts too and they all did so magnificently.

I did not attempt to keep a set list but a few of the songs stuck in my head. We did have some Rush with Tom Sawyer, Rainbow’s Kill the King, The Final Countdown by Europe and Deep Purple's Mistreated. There were lots more like that and that is why everybody was singing and dancing.

It was a fantastic night and next time they are at the Fox and Duck, Saturday 8 October, then I'll be there early. It is already in my diary.

A couple of quick notes to close. One of the Fox and Duck regulars gave the gig three "wow!"s on Facebook afterwards, a record, and another friend told me that Tamas had been the original singer with prog covers band secondSight who I had seen several times. A couple of little touches to make a great night even better.

It's nights like this that I live for.

Bouncing to Bungles Finger at the Fox and Duck

It had been a while since I had seen Bungles Finger at the Fox and Duck and I had forgotten just how good they are. If I had remembered I might have got there earlier but other things stole my time and it was around 10pm that I arrived at the pub.

I got a pint of the usual Doom Bar, all the bar staff know what I drink, and made my way to a gap in the bar near the front and to the left, a usual spot.

I was there just in time to hear Pulp's Year 2000 from the seminal album Different Class released in 95. I bought it then and love it now. This was followed by a lively version of Mrs Robinson and I was already starting to bounce and, heaven forbid, sing a little. A surprise return to Pulp gave us their greatest hit, Common People, and more singing.

There was a break for the band to rest and for us to talk and then Bungles Finger returned for another hour of classic songs including Pretty Vacant, Teenage Kicks and Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've) for Punk Rock fans (I think that was everybody there) and other rock favourites like Sex on Fire which I suspect covers bands only play because of the title.

Bungles Finger are a rock band and they rocked to the delight of a packed pub. There were plenty of people dancing but I resisted the temptation to join in lacking the energy and the confidence of those that were dancing at the front. I was very happy just to bounce a little at the side.

It was a brilliant evening and I think I know why. The musicians in Bungles Finger are very good but you can say that about a lot of the covers bands that I see; what lifts them above those other bands, in my view, is their more interesting and more varied set-list and having a front-man who acts as a front-man and not just as a singer.

And just to prove that we all had a great time, here is a photo of the happy regulars taken at the end of the evening.

Enjoying more Sabbatage at the Fox and Duck

There were two heavy rock bands that dominated my school years, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. Led Zeppelin were not in consideration.

This taste was largely set by the albums that other people bought and shared and these included albums like Machine Head (72) and Master of Reality (71). While I liked Deep Purple I liked Black Sabbath even more and that was mostly down to two albums, Black Sabbath Vol. 4 (72) and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (73). Deep Purple did some great tracks, like Lazy, but I felt that Sabbath Albums were more consistent.

The corollary of this long prelude is that I am always going to be interested in seeing a Black Sabbath tribute band especially if they are playing locally and even more so if I have seen them before and enjoyed the experience.

And so I went to see Sabbatage on their return to the Fox and Duck.

They started promptly and I was a little late, around 9:30pm, and I arrived just as they got in to Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. A fine start to the evening. What followed was a couple of hours of classic songs from N.I.B. (from the first album, Black Sabbath, in 1970) to God is Dead? (from the 2013 album 13), with a strong leaning towards the early material. That was just the music that I wanted to hear.

There was just one excursion into the Dio period with Children from the Sea from 1980's Heaven and Hell. We were told that there was more Dio material being rehearsed and I look forward to hearing that someday, hopefully when they are next at the Fox and Duck in September.

What I liked most about Sabbatage is the sound that they made. Lead singers and drummers have come and gone but the core of Black Sabbath's sound has always come from Tony Iommi on lead guitar and Geezer Butler on bass and Sabbatage covered these two roles very well with Mark Sayers (right) and Andy Tunstall (left).

Doing a creditable job of sounding like Ozzy (and a touch of Dio) was Elvin Cole (centre) and keeping everybody on time was Claudio Cafolla (back).

Put that all together and it was evening of head shaking, leg stamping and a bit of air guitaring as the familiar tunes powered their way through the bar. It was a lot of fun and it was a sad moment when it had to end. At least we got a couple of encores as we refused to let the band leave.

Black Sabbath may have been big in Weymouth Grammar School in the early 70s but they did not trouble the singles charts very much and so do not have the immediate recognition that most covered bands do. Sabbatage did a good job of entertaining the crowd some of whom only knew one or two of the songs, Paranoid and Iron Man. Those of us who knew all, or most of them, had a great time.

The Thin White Duke in still brilliant shock

Every time that The Think White Duke have come to the Fox and Duck it has been brilliant, and so it was this time. I have little to add to that simple statement.

The set was much the same as previously, if not identical, and that was just what we all wanted. The musicianship was, if anything, a little better as some of the newer members of the band were more settled in their roles and I though that lead vocalist, David Cull, varied his tone nicely putting emphasis in places I do not recall being emphasised before.

The pub was just as packed as it always is for The Think White Duke, which is consistently more packed than for any other band there. We also did more singing and dancing along than we do for other bands.

It was simply a brilliant evening. We were all heroes, just for one day.

Counterfeit back at the Fox and Duck

There are a few bands that I never miss at the Fox and Duck (e.g. Thin White Duke), some bands that I make a point of seeing if I can  (e.g. No Lip), some bands that I quite like to see provided there is nothing else on (e.g. Cry Wolf), and just a few bands that I avoid. In practice this means that bands in the first group go into my calendar coloured orange, bands in the second group go in coloured grey and the others do not go in my calendar at all.

Counterfeit are in the making a point of seeing group and so I made a point of seeing them this Saturday after going to the theatre in Richmond.

I got to the pub around 10:45 just as Counterfeit had started the second half of their set. They started with Neil Young's Rocking in the Free World which they did a good job of, so I was very happy.

I had to break from the music briefly to have my photo taken with Lynsey, Dave and Sue, but you'll have to find me on Facebook to see that photo. Pete had the nouse to turn up a few minutes later once the photographs were done.

I like Counterfeit but this was not their best night. Their singer lost her voice and the band had to take a break to let her recover. The band was never known for their vocals and this hiccup just emphasised this weakness. The selection of songs was also a little strange. It was good to hear classics like Rocking in the Free World and also to hear unusual songs like Video Killed the Radio Star but, for me, there were too many weak songs that I did not know.

That was a shame. Because when they did proper rock songs they did them properly and it was easy to forgive and forget the weaker ones. Songs like Pinball Wizard and Whole Lotta Love went down well with me and the other rock fans in the pub. Counterfeit are built around lead guitarist Julia Kurzeja (she's in the top left of the picture in bare feet and trousers that look as though they had been fought over my armies of squirrels) and they sounded best when she was in full flight with the rhythm section making great noises behind her.

Counterfeit started the evening in my "make a point of seeing" group and they are still there, and rightly so. I spoke to Julia briefly after the gig (I always like to say "thank you" personally) and she said that they hoped to play the Fox and Duck four times next year. I hope they do too.

The Thin White Duke made it another great night at the Fox and Duck

I think it's fair to say that of all the bands that play at the Fox and Duck that The Thin White Duke consistently pull in the most people and get more of the audience singing and dancing. They are one of the few bands that I make a point of always seeing and one of the even fewer that I get there early enough to catch their full set, rather than just the second half which is what I normally do.

I said of another band recently that they suffered from covering a band I never particularly liked and not sounding too much like them either, to which a friend added they also do not look like them. The Thin White Duke were the exact opposite, I have loved Bowie since Starman (everybody who saw it remembers that TOTP performance), they sound like Bowie whether it is the Bowie sound of Life on Mars, Fame or Heroes, and David Cull makes a good job of looking like The Thin White Duke himself.

I managed to find myself a spot next to the bar close enough to be in the thick of the action but not close enough to get mixed up with some of the more energetic dancers right at the font. It was the ideal spot for my gentle swaying.

The mood was infectiously buoyant and right from the start everybody was singing along loudly to (most of) the songs. It has long-since stopped surprising me just how many people of how many ages know the words to how many Bowie songs, and not just the hit singles either. The one exception was the title song from 2003's Reality, his last proper album before returning unexpectedly with The Next Day in 2013.

Even that virtually unknown song was well received so you can imagine what the reaction to the closing Starman and Heroes was like. I am very glad that I was there to be part of it.

Sabbatage are a welcome addition to the Fox and Duck rota

Normally when I go to see a band at the Fox and Duck on a Saturday night I do not bother to write a review and when I do write one it normally begins with an admission that I did not get to the pub until 10:30pm and so missed the first half of the band's set. Not this time. Black Sabbath were a big and important part of my musical youth and so I was in the pub by 9:15pm to hear Sabbatage play some of their songs.

The Black Sabbath back catalogue consists mainly of album tracks with few hit singles but that was no problem as almost everybody there had clearly bought all the albums and had played them all a lot. My starting point was Vol 4 in 1972 and I worked backwards from there and forwards until Mob Rules in 1981.

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath was, and remains, my favourite Black Sabbath album so I was very pleased that Sabbatage played both the opening title track and also Killing Yourself to Live. The lyrics came flooding back and I was forced to sing along.

The best things about Sabbatage were that they played Black Sabbath songs and they sounded like Black Sabbath, especially with the distinctive guitar sound which it was important to get right. The vocals were slightly less successful but then I do not envy anybody who has to try and sound like both Ozzy Osbourne and Ronnie James Dio.

Sabbatage concentrated mostly on early Sabbath which was good as early Sabbath was heavy Sabbath with crunching guitars and harsh lyrics. I do like some of the later songs a great deal, songs like The Sign Of The Southern Cross from Mob Rules, but these have a very different sound produced by a different line-up so it would have been unfair to expect Sabbatage to play them too.

Black Sabbath had only one genuine hit single, Paranoid in 1970, which Sabbatage rightly kept back for the final run in to their set where it was joined by Iron Man which flopped as a single in 1971 but which was given international recognition in the closing credits of the film of the same name in 2008.

Given the lack of obvious hits to play with Sabbatage did a fine job with the Black Sabbath catalogue and were greatly appreciated by a busy pub who know their music. It was a good night and I hope Sabbatage will be back to give us more of the same.

LoudShirts at the Fox and Duck were a lot of fun

I do not write about all the bands that I see at the Fox and Duck simply because I do not have the time to do so and also while most of them are entertaining enough some of them do not offer much to write about. LoudShirts were different.

They were an unknown quantity to me, otherwise I would have gone earlier, and I did my usual thing of turning up around 10pm for the last couple of hours. As I approached the pub I could hear them playing Deep Purple's Mistreated, a song I love but probably had not heard for thirty years or more. A great start to the evening with what turned out to be the last song in the first half of their set.

The interval gave me the chance to say hello to a couple of the Fox and Duck regulars (e.g. Lynsey, Dave and Sue) and also to a couple of new people (Tracie and Cherylanne). I took the opportunity to quaff a few quick Doombars as the walk there had made me thirsty and they were on good form that night.

The second half of LoudShirts' set was as interesting and lively as the first with songs ranging from the Mighty Quinn to Play that Funk Music. There were a few more of my favourites too and, I hate to admit it, the combination of the good music, the alcohol and the lively atmosphere got me dancing to a few of them. I am even sadder to admit that one of my new friends though to celebrate this by taking a photo. I am not going to admit where you can find it online.

It was an evening of simple pleasures, friends, music and beers, and it was a great evening too.

The Bite at the Fox and Duck do something a little different and do it well

I do not need much of an excuse to go to the Fox and Duck in Petersham on a Saturday night but, as excuses go, The Bite were a pretty good one.

I was not impressed to have to work over the weekend and was determined to not let work ruin things completely so when I hit a natural break-point in work around 10pm I headed for the pub rather than for bed, which may have been the more sensible option. Or I could have watched the end of TED which is a great film.

I had not done many steps, less that 9k, so I walked the long way to the Fox, following the 371 bus route though Ham. That took me just above my target 12k steps and got me to the pub around 11pm.

The main reason that I made that effort was the band's published set-list on LemonRock. There are many rock cover bands on the circuit and songs like Sweet Child O' Mine get played a little too often for my taste but The Bite promised songs like Lazy (Deep Purple) and Next (Sensational Alex Harvey Band) which are far more interesting.

The promise was soon kept. I got to the pub just as they started the second half of their set and they were soon into Faith Healer, another SAHB classic. This was followed by the likes of Radar Love and Hocus Pocus both of which I love immensely. This was clearly a band with good taste in music, i.e. close to mine.

They closed with Bohemian Rhapsody which, as they said , everybody knows the words to but I was possibly the only person in the pub who knew it from when it was first released in 1975. Similarly with their first Encore song, Delilah. It was clear from the band's movements that this was the SAHB version rather than Tom Jones'. A quick conversation with the bassist afterwards confirmed this.

Their final song was a request, from me. As I said above, I had seen Next, originally by Jacques Brel and later by SAHB, on their set list and I called for this when they were looking for one last song to play. Luckily they had not played it in the first half so they could play it at the end. I loved to hear it again for the first time for a while and it was good to see that other people in the pub recognised it.

The Bite were a new band for me, and for the Fox and Duck, and they did enough on their first visit to make me want to see them again.

The Thin White Dukes gets the Fox and Duck singing and dancing

Saturday night gigs at the Fox and Duck do not get any better than those from The Thin White Duke who regularly bring their brand of Bowie covers to the venue. It is not just me that thinks this and they always pull in a big crowd. Conscious of this I arrived promptly at 9pm and the place was already very busy. Armed with a Doombar I squeezed into a space well away from the potential dancing zone.

The Thin White Duke opened their set around 9:20pm and the singing started immediately. It still surprises me how many people know the lyrics to even the less well known album tracks and it surprises me more how many of these people could not possible have been born when the songs first came out. I used to think that deep knowledge of Bowie was confined to old people like me who bought every album on the day that it came out and played it to bits.

There is just so much to love in the extensive Bowie catalogue and we were all singing loudly (and mostly badly) along to songs like Cracked Actor, Diamond Dogs, Young Americans, Lets Dance and Queen Bitch. This singing got even more exuberant for classics like Life on Mars and anything off Ziggy Stardust.

This was a slightly different Thin White Duke with a new bass player and drummer and that may have been one reason for the different sound mix (more rock than funk) and for the extended versions of Golden Years and Fame. I liked the longer songs as they stopped the set from being a relentless string of hit singles.

The only problem was that this took their set dangerously close to the midnight curfew but things worked out and we got the final four fanfare that was expected; Rebel Rebel, Jean Genie, Starman and Heroes are songs to get anybody singing and dancing, especially when warmed up by two hours of excellent Bowie music.

The Thin White Duke are due back at the Fox and Duck on 12 September. I'll be there.

More Broken Bones at the Fox and Duck

The last time that I saw Broken Bones at the Fox and Duck was only a few weeks ago and then I commented that I hoped to see their next gig there on 19 July so it was something of a surprise to see them pop-up there again in March. Still, it had been a busy day watching Wales being robbed of the Six Nations Championship and I really fancied a few beers while listening to some good music.

I also needed the walk there, so much so that I took a long route along Dukes Avenue, Riverside Drive, Ham Street, Sandy Lane and Petersham Road. That got me just above my 12k step target for the day and also enabled me to listen to a few of my ten hours worth of unplayed podcasts.

I got to the Fox and Duck around 10:45 while the band were on their interval break so I could settle down with a Doombar before the noise and the dancing started.

I had called Broken Bones grungy before but they sounded more bluesy this time. That might have been their song selection or something to do with my mood. The songs that impressed me the most were certainly the longer slower bluesier ones like Sweet Home Alabama, Pleased to Meet You and Smoke on the Water.

There were some shorter faster rockier numbers too, numbers like Born to be Wild, Jailbreak and, of course, Ace of Spades. It was a good balance of songs and I liked the fact that they played some unusual ones as well as some of the more obvious crowd favourites.

Broken Bones finished on the stroke to midnight refusing the desperate please for another encore, using the completely reasonable excuse of the pub's curfew to do so.

That left me a little drinking up time to catch-up with some locals and I had some quick conversations on health informatics and the correct pronunciation of "Bosham" before walking home, taking a slightly longer route than necessary but a shorter one than I used to get there.

Another fine night at the Fox and Duck and just what I needed at the end of a gruelling day.

Counterfeit make a strong return to the Fox and Duck

I was lucky enough to catch the first ever Counterfeit gig, which was also at the Fox and Duck, in June 14 but the fates had conspired to make me miss their subsequent returns there. And it looked as though I would miss this one too and not only did I have a theatre date earlier in the evening but it was many miles away in Guildford.

Then a few things worked out for me. The play finished on time not long after 10pm and I got to the station with a couple of minutes to spare before the 20:20 train left, at Surbiton it was another short wait for a 281 bus to Kingston and there it was just two minutes before a 65 came along and took me briskly to Petersham. I arrived at the Fox and Duck just after 11:20pm which gave me forty minutes of music and enough time to drink three pints.

Obviously I cannot comment on the whole set as I only caught part of the second half but what I did hear was a slightly and refreshingly unusual mix of songs that included Pinball Wizard and Purple Rain as well as the more common Whole Lotta Love.

As before the musicianship was excellent from all four band members and even the slight technical difficulty at one point did nothing to spoil the infectious good mood. Just look at the grin on Dave's face in the photo above. I was smiling too.

The cause of the extra smiling at this point was lead guitarist Julia Kurzeja's jaunt into the bar area for her shoeless solo. She tried the table first but that seemed a little risky so she settled for the chair instead.

It was an invigorating and uplifting end to a busy evening and that is all that I could have hoped for. Counterfeit are flagged as one of my favourite bands on LemonRock and I hope to catch another full show before too long.

Bungles Finger quickly back to the Fox and Duck

Having seen the New Year in at the Fox and Duck, Bungles Finger were soon back for another night of superb music.

Not for the first time I had to miss the miss the first half due to a theatre date and I got to the pub just after 10:30pm when they were just into the second half of their set with a selection of punk songs, starting with Teenage Kicks. I slipped into the left side of the bar (a common spot to find me) and ordered my first Doombar of the evening.

I loved the familiar punk songs and was very satisfied with the more recent songs which I mostly knew from covers bands, but the highlight of the evening was the closing medley of easy-listening songs Can't Take My Eyes Off You (with some new lyrics!), I'm a Believer, and Delilah. And in recognition of the group of men dancing vigorously to all these they closed with Gay Bar, which was danced to with equal gusto.

Another great night that demonstrated the magic that live music can bring to a pub.

Bad Penny at the Fox and Duck

Bad Penny describe themselves as a classic rock tribute band and that is plenty good enough reason to see them play. I thought that I had seen them before but I cannot find any proof in my blog so perhaps I am mistaken. They are certainly the sort of band that I should have seen play before.

I missed the first part of their set due to being at an opera recital (as you do) and so the pub was already full and lively when I arrived sometime around 10:30pm. It was good to see some familiar faces there, especially one of the younger ones who could tell me what some of the more recent songs were. I had no problems recognising Neil Young's Rocking in the Free World and resisted all caution to sing along to it. And some other songs that I knew too.

It was a very pleasant night spent listening to good music, played well in a nice pub with a friendly and lively atmosphere. That is what Saturday nights at the Fox and Duck are all about.

Changing the years with Bungles Finger at the Fox and Duck

For the last twenty five years or more New Year's Eve has meant the Wych Elm. There had often been a few other pubs along the way but come the witching hour that is where I would be.

There were good reasons for that; the Wych was my local for a lot of that time (when I lived in Kings Road in North Kingston) and as it was the landlord's (Manny's) birthday on 1 January there was always a late party, even before the time Tony Blair allowed such things.

I moved away from the area but the Wych remained the best option and then, in 2014, Manny finally retired from the pub and there was no longer any reason to go there and I was struggling to think to anywhere else that could be a lively and as friendly.

In the end I decided to give the Fox and Duck in Petersham a go, mostly because they had a live band on, namely Bungles Finger. I was happy to treat the evening like a normal Saturday night there with a band I liked.

It was much better than that.

Bungles Finger did the pub proud and it was good to hear the first half of their set for the first time, on two previous visits to see them I had only seen the second half due to other commitments.

The pub was as lively and as friendly as I hoped and in addition to the good music I had lots of conversations, mostly with new people prompted by unexpected connections brought up by Facebook.

We may not have got on the floor and rowed to Oops Upside Your Head but I am not sure that I want to do that anymore. Instead it was a good night in a good pub with good people and good music; a good way to end one year and start another.

Who are You at Christmas?

I had seen The Who covers band Who are You at the Fox and Duck before and that was enough reason to see them again, especially as I was passing the pub on a bus on my way back from a Sparks concert.

Going to the Sparks concert first meant that I only caught the only last hour or so of Who are You, which was fine with me as while I like a lot of The Who's songs they have never been a great favourite of mine.

And seeing the end of their set meant that I got to hear the best of The Who's music, notably Won't Get Fooled Again. I was not taking notes (that would have been sad) and I was far to far away from the stage to grab a photo of the set-list so I am not certain what else they played but they were all songs that I, and everybody else there, knew and some disturbing but enthusiastic singing happened.

Who are You had pulled in a good crowd and that, with the catchy music and a few familiar faces, made for a good atmosphere in the pub. It is for all those things that I like to go to the Fox and Duck on a music night.

The Thin White Duke get it together at the Fox and Duck

There are few nights that are as much fun as The Thin White Duke playing at the Fox and Duck; the songs are brilliant, the band are good and there is always a great atmosphere in the pub.

I have seen The Thin White Duke play several times now and I think that I enjoy them more each time.

I made a slight mistake this time and assuming that they would start around 9:30, as they had previously despite the billed 9:00 start time, I turned up at 9:20 to find them already playing and the pub already buzzing. They were on their fourth song, The Man Who Sold The World. A good start.

I had to push fairly hard through the crowd to get to the bar to get my beer and then back towards the door again to join some friends who had grabbed a good spot there.

This spot used to be against the back of a bench but the two benches that used to divide off that section of the bar had gone in the pub's ongoing improvements, which also included a proper raised stage for the bands. I liked that changes as it made it easier to see the band and created more space for dancing. Not that I ever dance but some people do.

There was another surprise with an unknown bassist playing in the band. Just to fool you the picture above was taken in the second half of the set when the original bassist was back with the band. I spoke to him afterwards and he explained that work commitments meant that he was leaving the band and the new bassist was gradually taking over.

There was no surprise with the set-list, though they did sneak in two songs that were new as far as I am aware, The Stars are out Tonight (from The Next Day) and Stay (from Station to Station).

You just have to look at the set-list to understand how good the evening was. I was soon singing, then swaying and finally (against my better judgement) dancing. The Thin White Duke know what they are doing and they structure the set well mixing in some (possibly) less well-known songs like Diamond Dogs as well as a good selection of the hit singles. The last four songs were out and out belters and everybody in the pub was singing along and most of us were dancing too. It was wonderful.

The Thin White Duke had a well deserved break somewhere in the middle and then played until the midnight curfew, so not only was it a fun evening it was a delightfully long one too.

The evening was greatly helped by seeing so many familiar faces there, some local faces and also a few know from other music venues and pubs. I dread to think how many times Ralph has been in the same room as me!

The Thin White Duke are due back at the Fox and Duck on 25 April. It's in my diary.

Back to see more Bungles Finger at the Fox and Duck

For no particular reason, other than I am very busy with lots of things, I have been going to the Fox and Duck less frequently in recent months and I almost did not go this time.

I had spent most of the day (a Saturday) at home in front of one of my computers trying to catch up on my various commitments to the likes of Ham Amenities Group, Kingston upon Thames Society and the British Czech and Slovak Association, as well as struggling to order opera tickets for Glyndebourne and Ghent. I had not got as far as I had hoped at 10pm and faced the options of carrying on (despite being quite tired), collapsing with some comics, or going down the pub. Comics were winning the argument until I read the review of my previous (and first) encounter with Bungles Finger and that swayed things in favour of the pub.

The 65 bus conveniently arrived at the bus stop at the same time as me and I was in the pub just before 10:30pm.

The band were on their break then which made it easier to get to the bar and order the usual pint of Doombar (it was the only draught bitter they did) before finding a place to settle. That turned out to be one of my usual spots near the band just where the bar curves away towards the loos. It was a bit side on there but it is generally a fine place to watch bands from unless the dancing gets too manic. I later moved to the main standing area by the main door just to see the band from a different angle.

Bugles Finger do not have, or did not bring, their own lights so the only illumination for the stage was a basic table lamp on the shelf behind them. This is exactly what I did not want for my photos and this picture was about the best that I could do.

The band opened the second half of their set by saying that they would be playing some livelier numbers. Livelier than what I did not know but lively I like. I took no notes but some of the songs that I recall from their eclectic mix were Teenage Kicks, Ever fallen in love, Walk like an Egyptian, Sex on fire and Highway to Hell.

They ended the evening on a singalong note with I'm a believer, Can't take my eyes off you (!) and Delilah, which I tried to sing to in the style of The Sensational Alex Harvey Band when everybody else had Tom Jones in mind. Their loss.

The band finished just before the midnight curfew which gave me just enough time to catch up with some of the regulars in the sports bar before being nicely asked to leave. And I left very happy.

Bungles Finger ended my busy and tiring day on a welcome high note thanks to their good playing and interesting mix of unusual songs. Next time they play the Fox and Duck I'll try to get there for the first half of their set.

No Lip bring some welcome Punk Rock to Petersham

It is something of a simplification to say that most of the Saturday night bands at the Fox and Duck play rock classics like Smoke on the Water and Sweet Child of Mine but it sometimes feels like that and while there is absolutely nothing wrong with rock classic it is always nice when something a little different comes along. Something like No Lip.

No Lip play Punk Rock and I sure like Punk Rock. I bought Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols on the day that it came out and still have a decent collection of singles from this time, despite not having anything to play them on.

Their selection was fairly mainstream for Punk fans but kept away from the more melodic and popular singles of the time. So we had several tracks from The Ruts but none from The Stranglers. It probably was not quite Oi! but it was getting there.

The mood of the evening was summed by their final encore, the Sex Pistol's Bodies. This was never a single but everybody in the busy pub knew the words and sung/shouted them with great gusto. It was a wonderfully loud, energetic and nostalgic evening. More like that please.