#3 Pete and the pirates//Scala//London//Tuesday 4th october

For nigh on two months no one has seen me on a tuesday night because i have been completely obsessed with Seven Dwarves on channel 4. Seeing those little guys get wasted and dance and prance about has filled my world with joy but the show is over now so i thought i'd show my face outside my flat. So it was on with the parka (yes guys it is chilly enough for a coat now! Get in!) and out the door. I was off to the Scala to see those glorious geeks from Reading, Pete and the pirates.

Now when i arrived, security gleefully took my camera off me and informed me i wasn't allowed to take any pics of tonight's proceedings because the BBC where filming, err.....fuming, it looked like you guys were going to get pics off my good old blackberry. But no i managed to track down some of the band's management team and after a bit of the good old 'Dan charm' (the luckier among you may have seen this in action) and a lot of help from a thoroughly top lad named Steve (thanks Steve), i ended up with a press pass and a seat in the photo pit. This is whats known as a right rocking ree-sult.

SET LIST:

1, Come on feet

2, Mr understanding

3, Knots

4, Winter 1

5, Cant fish

6, Motor bike

7, Cold black kitty

8, She doesn't belong to me

9, Half moon street

10, Come to the bar

11, Blood gets thin

Why not have a little look at the sort of thing the band do for yourself: http://youtu.be/A2w6RyZ3NmA

So it was a pretty rammed out Scala for tonight's gig, as i mentioned before the BBC were filming and i think there was an industry vibe going on because there were a lot of 'olds' and 'suits' in attendance. Not that this took anything away from the gig, everyone was bouncing around and i didn't see many chin strokers. The Scala is great, very small and intimate so no matter where you are you are close to the stage. Its also very dark which is great for the light show that accompanied the band (but rubbish for my pics). The lads bounded on stage and you could tell they were really up for it straight away, they ripped into 'come on feet' and 'Mr understanding' with a real intensity that set the standard for the rest of the show. They dropped a few classics like 'knots' and crowd fave 'she doesn't belong to me' (which i adore) but a lot of tonight was about second album 'one thousand pictures' with 'half moon street' and 'come to the bar' real highlights.

There was lots of good band interplay and banter with the crowd, chief  lovable geek Pete, on guitar, even did a little dance routine for one track, you know i'm a sucker for a dance routine, we all are aren't we? surely? The guys were defo more lively than previous times i've seen them, they are coming to the end of this current tour and you could see they were glad to re-connect with their London fan base. At the end the crowd demanded an encore and the boys didn't disappoint with a rabble rousing version of 'blood gets thin' which built up to a seemingly never ending outro that had the fans eating out of the palms of their hands.

Need to know:

Drinks: a SHOCKING SHOCKING SHOCKING £4 for a can of red stripe. Actually getting sick of most venues mugging us off  for drinks. Not cool.

Crowd: complete mixed bag, young and old, men and women, very diverse, no scenesters here.

Haircuts and threads: The band are glorious geeks all specy 'n' that. Love it. One of the only bands where i actually don't care what they look like because they are so endearing and their tunes are joyous melodic singalong gems.

Venue: great, intimate, atmospheric, good views everywhere and easy to get to the bar. It's in a different room to where the band play so never much of a crush to get a beer.

ACE FACE (wowzers, 2 of them this week!)

Siobhan Rae, MTV

Stewart Rae, site manager

Brother and sister combo from Surbiton

Ahhhh 2 of my old pals! Lovely to bump into you!

Hey Dan! Great to see you!

So have you seen these guys before?

Yeah a couple of times, once at Islington academy and we saw them smash it at Reading.

What is your fave Pirates tune?

Siobahn: 'she doesn't belong to me', loved it since the first time i heard it.

Stewart: its got to be 'knots'

What did you reckon of tonight?

Stewart: It was great wasn't it? They were really tight, actually the best i've seen them. Sometimes when a frontman plays an instrument it takes away from his performance a little because he can't just let go but i thought he was brilliant tonight.

So there we have it, another great performance from the Pirates, go see them, buy their albums!

Wednesday i'm at The Horrors, then its Tribes and The Maccabees in the coming weeks. Also Berlin has been confirmed! Yessssssssssss! that will be one for the techno fans, Fly Bermuda festival featuring Sven Vath, Loco Dice and Villalobos. Keep your eyes on the blog for all the news.

In a band? Run a night? Want me to check you out or get involved in what i do? Email me at dannywoodlands@yahoo.co.uk

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