UnderCover Live Band

Fantastic! The Fatling & Firkin, Hornchurch on Sat 11th Feb 06

Just come back from a fantastic night at the Fatling & Firkin watching Undercover. It's the first time I've seen them but it certainly won't be the last. These guys ROCK but they also know how to PARTY. They played a wide range of songs from Nirvana and Green day to The Specials and Madness Blur and Oasis in the first set and just non stop fun stuff like funky music the Monkees and T Rex. The whole pub was jumping up and down. A great atmosphere and a great night. I really recommend seeing them soon!
Jill, Sun 12th Feb 06

Party Time! The Green Man, Royston on Sat 18th Jun 05

These guys know how to party! Entertaining, lively and with a great repertoire, you can't help but join in. Pete is one of the most animated singers on the circuit and the band give him all the right backing. Get to see them if you can!
Andy (landlord of The Green Man, Royston) Fri 21st Oct 05

Wow! The Lord Napier, Ilford on Fri 4th Feb 05

A week before this gig I saw Undercover at the Firkin pub in Hornchurch and despite most of the band suffering from flu they took the Firkin by storm and received a great reaction. At the Napier the set was almost the same but the layout is better for bands; however with such a large pub they could have done with a few more punters. It didn't deter them - they looked as if they enjoyed every second of it! Loads of great songs, loads of us singing them and plenty of dancing. Can't wait til they're back. Oh, and U2's Vertigo was spot on!
Nicki, Sun 27th Feb 05

Undercover Me! The Essex Arms, Brentwood on Sat 30th Oct 04

Roll into Pam's Bar at the Essex Arms in Brentwood and Undercover take you to another world where you could be at The Marquee with all the original bands. Yes, they are that good. Wicked sounds and a superb stage show. Go and see them and REALLY ROCK!! ABSOLUTELY EXCELLENT... The best night out possible.
Karen, Wed 17th Nov 04

The Boars Head, Braintree Saturday 8th April 2006

The show started at half nine so we (Biggie, Brooksie and I) decided to leave Wickford at eight to give us plenty of time in the venue to scope out the surroundings, meet the band and get the beers in.

However Brooksie’s GPS system sent us to Bag End and not Braintree so we got to the venue just as the band took the stage.

Well I say the stage, it was more the floor. The Venue (The Boars Head) in Braintree was quite small or intimate depending on your view point, but it carried the sound well.

The band were well mixed and no instrument overpowered another with the exception of the backing vocals which were difficult to hear at times. But overall they sounded good. Also another good thing (considering we were right next to the PA) was that they didn’t just crank up the volume so you couldn’t hear yourself think. Although it was obvious throughout the set that the monitor mix was not right as I saw a few times when mid song members had to change what they heard.

Onto the set, which was huge. 36 songs in total were played. Throughout 35 songs I could not hear a single bum note or mistimed beat. I'll talk about the other 1 song later. The first two songs “Importance of Being Idle” and “Learn to Fly” were played very well but the band didn’t seem too comfortable playing them. During the mid session interval they explained that this was the first time they'd played “Learn to Fly”.

After the first two songs everything clicked and the performance sky rocketed. Mick the drummer was dubbed by Biggie as “f*cking nuts” with his drumming style. Pete (the front man) came very close to smacking his head on the ceiling. The first set had a nice mix of songs from Cameo to Primal Scream and everything seemed to work well. Some of the intros into the songs were really funny as well. The talk about handlebars before “Born to be Wild” really G’ed up the audience before the song started.

During the break we went outside to talk to the guys. Who happen to be top blokes and seemed to be really interested about Essexbands.com and how we can make money out it. Being the greedy b*stard I am I was well up for this conversation. But anyway I am supposed to be reviewing their gig, not them personally. Kicking off with “20^th Century Boy” I had a feeling I was going to enjoy the second set more than the first. And by god I was right. Every member seemed to get more involved with the songs and dance around more, which considering the size available was not easy.

When I thought I had a band dynamic all figured out the guitarist sang “American Idiot”. This gave Pete a few minutes to rest his voice and dance around. To me this showed that there is no ego in the band, as the lead singer is willing to take a back seat and allow another member take the limelight for a few minutes. And I love that in a front man. Also the fact that the song is a great tune doesn’t hurt either.

As the evening progressed so did the audience participation. Pete made a believer out of me by getting the entire pub to scream “I believe”…. His spiel about “He can’t believe, Look at the state of him”, while pointing at me, had Biggie in tears. Literally.

Soon “Song 2” was played. I personally think this would have been better suited earlier in the night as it seemed that Pete was struggling with the “Woo Hoo’s” a little. Another alternative would be for the backing vocals to sing them. But even with that little factor it was played well and was a good version. The next three songs were awesome Biggie was up and dancing to “Gay Bar”, although in fairness to Biggie and his limited dancing ability this was forced. I enjoyed “Bartender and the Thief” and was singing along to “Pretty Vacant”. And then they finished on “Smells like Teen Spirit”.

This was the one song which didn’t seem to gel. Every note was played but something did not sit right with this song. It certainly should not have ended the set as they had a number of stronger songs then this. But that just might be me not really liking that song on any level.

Over all.

The venue was small but the staff seemed very up for the show so the atmosphere was really electric.
The band was exceptionally tight and very well rehearsed.
The set was a nice eclectic mix of songs that built well to get the crowd going.
The crowd was really hot and wild and into the music, which always makes a good night.

I think I’ll give them the best compliment one can give.
I would go and see them again.

Spoon - EssexBands.com