Venue: Deep End (15 January 2003)
Reviewer: Mike Stannett
An interesting and enjoyable evening, and well worth the trip down to the Deep End.
Fudge Sartorial elegance from the outset, and an intriguing evening promises to continue much as
it began. The excitement mounts, a woman's hysterically bizarre laughter rings out from the
audience, and the band are playing, er..., Teenage Kicks. Then into Thankyou,
an original track which comes across as both intelligent and well-constructed. A very odd
repertoire, this one, as their third track Asking for It reminds me of nothing so much as
a 60s Kinks-meet-New Faces creation. This is beginning to sound like a track listing rather than
a review, but the next track, their new one, Mr Brad Pitt, confirms the general impression:
this band are so together, it's almost impossible to separate the various guitars by ear alone.
This just keeps getting better - now we're onto the classic Ronette's track Be my baby, and a
very passable version it is too.
Time for a quick round of the audience... why did they come, what do
they think of the band? Maybe 30% are people who already know the band and have come both
to show their support and to enjoy themselves, but an impressive near-70% know them by
reputation and wanted to see them in the flesh. With a background like that, Fudge promise
to go far.