live review: pete and the pirates. scale, london. 4 october 2011.

as the sweat dripped off the end of my fringe (not my most ladylike look), a couple of things struck me about this pete and the pirates gig 1) i should really have taken my jacket off before going into the mosh pit, 2) my fringe seriously needs a trim and most importantly, why don’t more people know how good this reading five-piece are? well obviously the full to capacity crowd here at the scala do. i thought it’d all be teenage (and one, ahem, thirtysomething) girls swooning over pete, pete, tommy, david and johnny but no, pete and the pirates have seemingly made a huge impression with the big, burly bald blokes you usually find at kasabian gigs too, judging by tonight’s audience.

the crowd swelled and pogoed for the singles off one thousand pictures, the band’s second album: come to the bar, winter 1 and united. the latter is an undeniable indie pop classic: even people who don’t know anything else about the band are, well, united in their love of it. re-release it please stolen recordings! but keep the accompanying cat-themed video, that’s ace.

pete and the pirates continue the british songwriting tradition of putting irresistible melodies beneath bittersweet tales of fumbling, stumbling relationships set out by the likes of squeeze, buzzcocks and blur before them. downtempo numbers such as half moon street and washing powder show how pete and the pirates have progressed in songwriting terms from the simplistic perkiness of earlier songs such as mr understanding. my only gripes with this performance was a lack of inter-song banter (i like my frontmen flirtier, chattier and cockier) and that it was all over in just over three quarters of an hour. with any luck, this uk tour will propel this clever, likeable bunch to much greater things.

words by helen parton (twitter)