Autumn Neagle falls under the spell of the charismatic Fat White Family

Touted by just about everyone as the sweaty saviours of rock & roll, it’s no secret this music lover is slightly enamoured with the antics of the Fat White Family.

First date nerves and an anxious anticipation for the Oxford headline show was the order of the day. So, you’ve swiped right, donned your best outfit and painted your nails – but will he keep his clothes on, and would you introduce them to you mother?

Wild tour-tales surround this raggle-taggle, wine-swigging band of Lost Boys, and a pre-gig flurry on Facebook wonders if they’ll actually turn up, as the crew threaten to take to the pub 20 minutes before doors.

Flashing lights, sirens and a roadblock outside the venue suggests frontman Lias Saoudi has escaped, high-jacked a bus and hightailed it down the Cowley Rd…

He hasn’t.

Maybe it’s because it’s Sunday, or because it’s Oxford and everyone is on their best behaviour, or maybe because magic happens in the legendary Zodiac room upstairs at the O2 – but as the Fat Whites take to the stage and kick into the mesmerising Tinfoil Deathstar, something special happens. We know we’re in good hands and for just one banging, mind blowing joyous hour, we enter their wild world with a show that unapologetically sets the bar for 2016.

Likable, intelligent and with an effortless artistry, this band own the stage. With wide grins and Morricone-inspired internal howls, they remorselessly hoodwink the room for an unforgettable ride.

Lias gives everything he’s got for your dollar.

Wild-eyed and staring, wine-spitting, growling and pacing, he disrobes his Sunday-best in a slow, messy striptease. Delighting all with good old fashioned crowd surfing, his neatly-laced brogues poke in the air like an upturned punk-Mary Poppins here to save us from a sea of blandness, as he's patiently and repeatedly reeled upright by security.

But ultimately it was all about the music. Raw, bluesy rhythms, growling signature Tarrantino-esque sounds roll seamlessly through latest album Songs For Your Mothers, sultry Cream of the Young, heart pounding I am Marc E Smith, loaded Satisfied or the nether reaching Touch The Leather embed themselves under the skin.

We’re all family now, but would I let Fat White Family sing for my mother? No, she’d run away with them.!

AUTUMN NEAGLE

5/5