Vangoffey, The Social, London, gig review: Fizzling and cracking with pop bounce

Even if it’s somewhat ramshackle, there is enough charm here to suggest domestic life has its upsides

Danny Goffey

“This is about an argument I had with my wife,” says Danny Goffey as he and his four Vangoffey bandmates cram onto The Social’s tiny stage. “In fact, they all are”. The erstwhile Supergrass drummer turned frontman is no longer young and running free, but by surveying domesticity, or as he puts it on “Spilt Milk”, his “perilous life with the tearaway kids and the spirited wife”, Goffey has turned his middle aged anxieties into wry, catchy tales of dissatisfaction.

Vangoffey’s debut album Take Your Jacket Off and Get Into It is a record for those that should coco: aside from the droll Ian Dury-esque funk-rap of “Race of Life”, many of tonight’s ten tracks recall Supergrass’ early carefree effervescence. At its best, like “Trials of a Modern Man” and “Episode”, it fizzles and cracks with pop bounce and the sort of raised eyebrow silliness that made Supergrass such fun.

It doesn’t all work: “Alfie Loves the Birds” shoots for The Kinks and ends up drearily trite. But even if it’s somewhat ramshackle - Goffey admits to being under rehearsed - there is enough charm here to suggest domestic life has its upsides.