Friday 21st June 2002 - The Foresters Arms, Forest Row, East Sussex.

The evening was warm and humid, with the hustle and bustle of rush hour traffic and the incessant murmur of idle chatter somewhat subdued after the devastating defeat of England by Brazil in the World Cup 2002 quarter finals.

The residents of Forest Row could feel the expectancy in the air and knew that tonight, something special would take place.

Little did they know that huddled around an array of beverages, at a table just outside the entrance to the illustrious establishment, were most of the members of Badgered, mentally preparing for their inaugural gig...

The event got off to a flying start as, under Dave's guidance, various band members attempted to assemble the house PA and wring some kind of vocal output from it with absolutely no one with any experience of the equipment on hand.

After several minutes entertaining the regulars with various amounts of delayed signal without the dry trigger, at last the intricacies of the desk were cracked and the traditional "Roadie Mantra" issued forth from the mighty Mackie stack.

The PA kerfuffle thankfully distracted the band members present from the fact that Pete, who had phoned from Ashford en route from le France, had not materialised.

Almost as if it had been planned, as the final adjustment to the vocal mix was completed, in strode Pete with a bass under one arm and a Fender bass rig under the other.

A few more minutes frantic cable plugging and amp maneuvering later and things were beginning to look more gig like.

As the clock marched inexorably on towards 9pm, final tuning adjustments were made and last sups of ale taken and on the stroke of nine, Graham lit the blue touchpaper on the sonic supernova that would follow thus:

"GOOD EVENING! WE'RE BADGERED!"

And so it began...

The first woody tones of the rocking Whiskey Town number, "Turn Around" exploded forth from Dave's Marshall and after a couple of bars intro, the tantalising drum crescendo pre-empted the crash of the entire band launching into the glorious maelstrom of the crunchy riffed accompaniment to the song.

From the point at which Graham unleashed his chocolatey vocals on the first verse, through the thrashy climax of Josh's "They Don't Know You" to the last sustained chord of the classic BB King third number, "Roll, Roll, Roll", there was no let-up for the audience who were literally compelled to leap to their feet and groove to the smooth, swinging blues after the euphoric bombardment of the huge opening twosome.

There followed a brief respite as the band swiftly regrouped and laid back a little into their cover of the well known and much loved "Lay Down Sally", with a classy, original, chicken-pickin' style lead break from Dave as befits the number.

Next up, another sample of some quality original material from the band in the shape of "Why Should He" penned by Josh; a playful, joyous number with a thoughtful, almost sneering undertone and some tasteful chord changes that are bound to please.

Then straight back onto the rock express with a juicy rendition of Thin Lizzy's "Dancin' in the Moonlight (It's Caught Me In Its Spotlight)", complete with the obligatory and virtually note perfect lead break from Josh.

Pausing only for Graham to catch his breath, the band played on into the second of their original numbers, a melancholy but powerful song, "Survive", with a hint of Pink Floyd about it and again written by Josh.

And as the final, emotional chord died away to a rapt hush from the crowd, the band paused momentarily to relish the poignant stillness before finishing their first set with a classic of classics in the form of "Crossroads", delivered in a form somewhere between the Robert Johnston original and the manic Cream version.

A tumultuous show of appreciation accompanied the band's departure from the "stage" as they carefully laid instruments to rest in their cases and headed for the second most important part of the evening after the performance: interval drinks!

After a brief interval mingling with the crowd and enjoying a tasty pint or two, the Badgered boys returned to their positions behind the PA.

A quick adjustment of the vocal EQ to improve the clarity of the lyrics complete, the irrepresible wave of exquisite Badgered musical delights continued...

A slow strummed, almost jazzy introduction soothed the onlookers before abruptly bursting forth into the choppy funk that is "Used To Be (Free)", another original number.

Continuing the classy pop theme, the repertoire proceeded on into Matchbox 20's "3AM", which a number of the audience could be heard singing along too - quite a large number as well to be heard over the thunderous sound of the band!

A further JC original, "Slowly Going Crazy" maintained the pace which then stuttered slightly at the beginning of another, almost cheesey, classic rock'n'roll number, "Johnny B Goode".

The familiar, opening bars petered out as the whole band started up in multiple keys simultaneously and in unison yelled out, "Was that you?!".

And so the humourous interlude gave way to a truly remarkable rendition of the Chuck Berry classic with the audience, again unable to contain themselves, duck walking and jiving around the pub.

As the clamour of sweating, breathless, boppers subsided, some welcome rest and relief was provided by the next number, another Whiskey Town song by the name of "Sixteen Days", beginning with soothing, half strummed, half picked chord work, gaining pace into the choruses and building to the crescendo of a glassy, fluid solo before retreating again into a sighing, lingering finale.

"Black Magic Woman" followed up with the sound centre moving around the band as they provided a three dimensional aural backdrop for Graham's punchy vocals interpersed with two lead breaks; the first flutey and laid back, the second gritty and expectant.

Then came the time for the band to flex its punk muscles with another original number, "Real". A simplistic, grungy number with a sarcastic lead break preceding the titanic final chorus.

And with the piercing thrill of the song still ringing out, the band finished the set with a Hendrix-like original, "Pigeon Head", with its screaming vocal lines showing Graham's range off to perfection and its psychedelic, entrancing outro, captivating the throng.

The final crash of the cymbals prompted an eruption of applause and cheering from the crowd who demanded more, and would not cease until the band agreed to play one last song.

And what a song! Rory Gallagher's "When My Baby She Left Me", a rocking blues number that swings along the lyrics punctuated with machine gun blues lead breaks.

What had seemed like a spacious watering hole at once became a heaving mass of flailing limbs and jiving hips, and although the song was extended to satiate the crowd, they wanted yet more.

A moment's discussion saw the band launch once again into "3AM" with the crowd still hungry for the musical satisfaction of the Badgered experience.

And still they screamed for more!

A final, gigantic repeat performance of "Turn Around" saw the evening end where it had begun despite audience pleas for it to continue on into the morning, and the band's heartfelt appreciation for the enthusiasm shown by the crowd was delivered with sincerity by Graham, signalling the end of what had been an amazing night.

The dynamism and flexibility of the band were demonstrated to the full by the varied sets on show and the vigourous delivery of all the numbers maintained a frenzied audience reaction.

Four words with which you will by now be familiar are all that is needed to sum up the Badgered experience:

LOVE ROCK? GET BADGERED!

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