Live Review

The Small Fortunes

Words by The Pit Standard · Photography by Marianne Brits

The Small Fortunes at The Garage, London — 2026-10-02

The Small Fortunes performing at The Garage

The Garage is a room with nowhere to hide. On Friday night, it was sold out as The Small Fortunes brought their UK tour to London, with the Warrington band taking the stage just a few years after their first live show in December 2023.

The band began with Louis James and Louis Menguy writing together during lockdown. Liam Clarke joined on bass and Adam Christopher on drums in 2024, with Paul Glover completing the current five-piece on keys in early 2025. James is the band’s vocalist as well as a guitarist, while Menguy plays guitar and James also brings harmonica into the live performance. That gives the pair a lot of responsibility at the front of the band, but the arrangements aren’t built around either one at the expense of the others.

‘Rolling With The Thunder’ opened the set, followed by ‘Love Is Not Enough’ and ‘Give Me That Good Feeling’. James’ voice immediately gives the songs their character, moving between a rougher delivery and surprisingly high notes when he pushes into the upper part of his range. Menguy’s guitar sits alongside it, with the two guitars giving the songs a fuller foundation without turning the opening stretch into a wall of sound.

It was only after a few songs that James began commenting on the heat, returning to it between songs as the temperature climbed.

‘Eat You Alive’ came early in the set, with James moving between vocals, guitar and harmonica. ‘Lorietta’ followed, then ‘Time’s No Friend Of Mine’, which brought a faster pace before ‘Together We’re Alone’. The set continued through ‘Peace Of Mind’, ‘Long Time Coming’ and ‘Castaway’, with enough variation between the songs to prevent the middle section from becoming repetitive.

The band’s influences are well established. Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker sit alongside BRMC and The White Stripes among the artists they cite, and those different reference points can be heard throughout the set. The blues comes through in the guitar work and harmonica, while the garage-rock influence gives some of the heavier passages their edge. The important thing is that the songs don’t all approach those influences in exactly the same way.

Menguy’s role becomes particularly important here. With James also playing guitar, there are two guitarists contributing to the arrangements rather than a single guitar carrying the entire performance. Clarke’s bass and the drums provide the foundation underneath them, while Glover adds keys to the current five-piece. No individual musician needs to dominate for their contribution to be noticeable; the songs depend on all of those parts being in place.

‘Good As Gold’ came before ‘Nothing Else Can Save Me’, followed by ‘Self-Fulfilling Prophecy’ towards the end of the main set. The latter shifts towards more introspective subject matter, while the performance itself remains rooted in the same guitar-led approach that runs through the night.

What was most noticeable across the set was the amount of variation the band could find within a fairly consistent musical foundation. James could change his vocal delivery, the two guitars could alter the emphasis of a section, the harmonica could become more prominent, and the rhythm section could change the pace without the songs losing their identity.

The Small Fortunes are still a relatively young live band, and there are moments where that is part of the appeal. The performance isn’t presented as something perfectly fixed; there is personality in the gaps between songs and a sense that the musicians are still learning what these songs can do in different rooms.

At The Garage, that made for a set that was easy to follow without becoming predictable. The songs were the focus, but the individual musicians were never invisible within them. The Small Fortunes are still figuring out how far these songs can go live, and that uncertainty is part of what makes watching them now interesting.