A Friday night in downtown UK , in back street bars , high street boozers and working men's clubs ( like the one this Friday night ) I would think there are at least two dozen bands called Pete & The Pirates playing blues and covers like Hi Ho Silver Lining , Smoke On The Water and for the hipper younger audience that terrible Sex On Fire song . But this one , according to my mate with his finger on the pulse and his ear to the Radcliffe & Maconie show are a young beat combo destined for big things , OK , I'll give it a go , it's Friday so......
It's looking good , the bus turns up late but at least I catch it for a change , the record temperatures never made it this far north and the cold wind cuts through me despite being dressed for the north face of The Eiger . half a dozen on the bus , a couple of old pissheads rabbitting loudly , going home from a day out in Redcar , desperate to empty their bladders , moaning that the sparse population of the No.22 should all get off at the same stop to save them soiling their pants . I take their advice and get off the stop before , cut through the streets as the wind cuts through me and meet my hosts smiling faces , teeth a chattering .
Buy a ticket at the top of the stairs a quid cheaper from an indie kid who's mate hasn't turned up , result , only to be met by a pump of Dry Blackthorn instead of the people's favourite fizzy cider pop Strongbow . Blackthorn does what it says on the tin , like a thorn through your guts but I gave it a go and it must be a new recipe 'cos it wasn't half bad and I wasn't feeling man enough for six pints of Club strength Tetley's Imperial . A decent turn out for a local show , indie kids , students , some old faces who I pretend not to recognize and vice versa , goths , a Jack White lookalike , young hipsters who never took their eyes of their phones and married couples on shore leave . Even a bloke who looked like he'd took a wrong turning after buying his tickets for the meat draw .
Local support My Secret Sins boded well but I should have known when the beefy Brett Anderson a like singer sported a semi acoustic and their stadium goth Bauhaus went The Cult in to a Noel Gallagher lighters out solo slot then to full band U2 mode with a song about the sun shining , time for another Blackthorn the heartburn can wait .
Pete & The Pirates made an undignified entry onto the tiny stage , squeezing past the beer crates and sundry club paraphanalia , young , geeky but not gorky , good looking singer , boy (ish) drummer and not one but two Santiago Durango lookalikes and a bloke ( The intelligent one ) with a Pavement shirt on , they obviously know their stuff . There is always room for intelligent pop music in my head and these boys knew it is a good year for music , 1979 that is . A bit Wire , a bit XTC a bit Lynyrd Skynyrd/Molly Hatchet when they went for the three pronged heads down axe attack , every song like an old friend , a comfortable chair , a familiar title but no mere copy cats here . They kept the smile on my face despite the fear of the Blackthorn and it's a long time since I enjoyed a live set that I could actually hum on the way home and I didn't feel I needed to under go some religious transformation to ' get it ' . Shame about the name though .
No comments:
Post a Comment