Ro first saw Fat Dog, before anyone had heard of them, at the Windmill in Brixton in front of a crowd of about 25 people. Their manic energy blew her head off. Vanessa and Al K first caught Fat Dog at the Rockaway Beach Weekender in Bognor Regis Butlins in January ’24. The tightly choreographed, manic show was the best thing all weekend.
I first saw Fat Dog on the packed-to-capacity slope of Strummerville at Glastonbury last year. There was a wild frenetic buzz in the air. First exposure to Fat Dog’s unlikely, frenzied musical gumbo sent all our brains reeling and our feet moving. But what about now, when we know what to expect?
Tonight, the London five-piece are playing the 850-cap Chalk, part of a mostly sold-out tour 
across the UK. They arrive onstage to Baha Men’s monster millennial hit “Who Let the Dogs Out?” and kick off with the cinematic grandiosity of “Vigilante”, which opens their debut album WOOF. (the title of which is emblazoned on synth-player Chris Hughes’ tee-shirt). Moustachioed singer-guitarist Joe Love, wearing a Russian-style hat, leads from the front, surrounded by sax, violin, bass and drums, but at the heart of their sound are berserk electronic rhythms.
As soon as the battering 4/4 beats start, the crowd, ranging approximately between late-20s and 50s, goes bananas. These people need a good night out at a Berlin techno club, but this will do nicely. It isn’t techno but it is ravey, with a vaguely Cossack element to the sound and rhythm. In fact, almost every song makes one think of “Night Boat to Cairo” by Madness, if it was reimagined for a hardcore Dutch warehouse party, that same Middle Eastern scaling, and antic propulsion.
It's hard to argue with and no-one does. This is a sweaty fun way to spend a Friday night. But 
anyone looking for songs they’ll be humming for days is out of luck. They do have a few whoppers. Shouty, stop-starting, EBM-stewed debut single “King of the Slugs” provokes a rowdy audience singalong, as well as twirling crowd dancing during its “Zorba’s Dance”-ish mid-section. And they close their tight, hour-long set with the gigantic “Running”, an Underworld-goes-gabber behemoth that’s impossible to resist.
Other highlights along the way include their most recent single, the Euro-bangin’ “Peace Song”, during which Hughes and saxophonist Morgan Wallace perform a running dance based around Rock Paper Scissors, and a new song which may or may not be called “Call Me if You Want Brat Psy”. It's tuneful and alive with potential.
For the rest, well, it would be churlish to moan about a lack of nuance. No-one is here for that. This is entertaining mayhem, fired out spirited and fast. I found it a bit one-note but 1990s clubbers and festival-going hedonists recognise their people; they’ve gathered to bond and dance. And they do. And so do Ro, Vanessa, Al K, Finetime and I.
Below: Watch then video for Fat Dog's most recent single "Peace Song"
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