Fad Gadget

Depending on who you are, Fad Gadget *is either a one-man music legend, or an odd man with a silly name. align="right"> Being firmly entrenched in the former category however, I looked forward to this gig with a degree of excitement verging on the abnormal, owing to the fact that in the great hierarchy of synth driven musical brilliance *Mr.Frank Tovey *(the man behind the moniker) has been safely wedged in the higher echelons since time immemorial (or the early eighties at least). Strangely enough though, despite a devoted underground following he seems to have remained a well-kept secret amongst the hardcore of loyal fans in the know. A secret that is until late last year when Mr Gadget found himself playing to heaving sweaty crowds of *30,000 *plus Depeche Mode fans when he supported the electro-rock merchants on their ‘_Exciter_’ tour. Coupled with the release of the ‘Best Of’ album last year and successful appearances at the *Electrofest in Germany, Mr Gadget obviously felt that the time was nigh to reap what he had sown and after a seven year sabbatical present himself to the adoring masses once more. And a bloody good job too.

Thus, the adoring masses gathered at The Garage in Highbury to expect the unexpected. After support bands Psychophile and Greenhaus had been and gone and we had been treated to the sound of The Normal’s *T.V.O.D/Warm Leatherette pumping from the speakers, the moment had cometh. Any doubts as to how well the man in person would compare to the voice committed to vinyl all those years ago were dispelled when Tovey/Gadget appeared through the clouds of dry ice and kicked off with the slow-burner ‘_Worried Man_’. Backstage afterwards Tovey complained of making four errors in this opening track but the crowd were sufficiently appreciative for these to be lost on all but the pickiest. Next came a visceral rendition of the seminal ‘_Ricky’s Hand_’ complete with Mr Gadget using his electric drill for reasons other than musical accompaniment – namely to terrorise the front few rows and then gouge a bloody hole in his own forehead. Quickly following on was ‘_Collapsing New People_’; a great track, which live, acquired an infectious, roaring quality not so noticeable on the original, which fairly blew the roof off the building. On stage, Fad Gadget cuts a mesmerising figure. At first swathed in black and a hint of red, as the gig wore on he gradually shed his garments as if crawling out of his own skin to eventually reveal the tarred and feathered body that has become his trademark. Vocally, he is equally awe-inspiring. A growl becomes a shriek, a mutter becomes a howl, and always with the melody firmly intact. Backed by Austrian band *Temple X, the synthesizer centred tracks were given extra thrust by the pounding guitars and the pubescent girlies amongst the crowd were given something to dribble over by the white-clad musicians.

Back to the music though. As well as the brilliant Frank Tovey single ‘Luxury’ popping it’s much appreciated head up into the proceedings, most of the necessary Fad Gadget classics were present and correct. A throbbing ‘Ladyshave’ accompanied by Mr Gadget removing some hairs of his personal topiary and proffering them to the front row, the pulsating synth of ‘Love Parasite’ sending electronic ‘bleeps’ around the room and right down my spine, the crowd screaming "Let me out!!!" along to the chorus of thunderous track ‘The Box’ and sounding for all the world like the inmates taking over the asylum. All the while Mr Gadget drove this synthesized cacophony further into our faces with his own manic performance, simulating impotence with the mike during ‘Coitus Interruptus’, shaking hands with the majority of the front rows during the sleazy ‘Fireside Favourite’, and indulging in a bit of crowd surfing and a few back flips along the way. Indeed, the lovable Fad seemed to have something of the Iggy Pops about him on the evening, and one fan was so overcome that during the superlative ‘Back to Nature’ he leapt onstage and gave the man a congratulatory piggy-back. Hurrah!

Indubitably, the gig was a roaring success, the darkness of Tovey’s lyrics *buoyed up by the energetic synths, the energy coming from the musicians and indeed the audience was tangible and the original songs benefited from the visual spectacle Tovey provided. One complaint, ‘_Life on the Line*_’, one of Fad Gadgets best and most well loved tracks was inexplicably missing, but the overall intensity of this gig was compensation enough. The Fad Gadget revival starts here.