Published: 06/02/2009 00:00 - Updated: 13/02/2009 13:13

Simply mod for tribute show

REVIEW - March of the Mods, The Playhouse, Harlow

SOMEWHAT snobbishly, I've always avoided tribute acts. The very concept leaves me cold.

But the chance to hear live the music of the Small Faces and The Jam - two of my favourite bands - was enticing enough for me to cast aside preconceptions.

This was the first date in the March Of The Mods tour, which brings together the Small Fakers and Wellalive on one stage in a tribute to the finest music the suit-and-scooter brigade had to offer across several decades.

The show was introduced by Chip Hakwes of The Tremeloes (and dad of Chesney, fact fans) who shared the bill with Steve Marriott and co several times in the 1960s - and he gave a ringing endorsement to the Fakers, who effortlessly reproduced the iconic '60s sound of the Small Faces in two-and-a-half minute blasts of tight musicianship.

Recreating the look and sound of Marriott, one of the finest voices in British pop history, is a tall order but Fakers frontman Matt was up to the task. In fact, from row M it was downright spooky.

Wellalive, in keeping with the Jam's punkier late '70s leanings, were more ragged but no less accomplished. Charismatic singer Johnny had Paul Weller's vocal nuances down to a tee, especially when ripping through a pre-interval set of Jam classics before moving on to his Style Council and solo material.

The stage set-up - in which one band sat and nodded while the other performed - proved slightly distracting until it was vindicated in an encore in which all the players came together for an exhilarating rendition of the Small Faces' All or Nothing.

Alex Day