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Gig Review
Pete & the Pirates London, The Borderline
Article written by
Paul M - Jul 17, 2009
Pete & the Pirates
Pete and the Pirates have come a long way in the few years since SoundsXP put them on the bill as headliners at the Purple Turtle. The Borderline is rammed tonight, making you conscious of some of the limitations of what is essentially still a very good venue – a pillar that blocks a great deal of the stage from being viewed by anyone not in the tiered ‘pit’ ie about a third of the audience. Craning to see either side of the concrete blockage does reveal that the five good looking skinny lads still feature four guitarists and a drummer. Nothing odd there of course but these clever pups create a sound that’s so layered, it sounds almost orchestral at times, making them more akin to an angular Arcade Fire rather than your average meat and two veg indie riff plodders. Close your eyes and you can almost hear keyboards and violins though this may be down to my bellyful of booze and an Unclassified in O’Level Music. Tom Sanders’ vocals also add to the layers, with others joining his lead to add harmonic depth to the mighty sixty five minutes of art pop. Plenty of new songs are aired, all suggesting that the second album will be as good as the first but inevitably it’s the early singles that go down best and none more so than encore closer, jarring staccato’d debut Come on Feet, complete with audience handclaps and moshing. Definitely one of the finest live acts around even if they are lumbered with possibly the worst rock and roll name since Ned’s Atomic Dustbin.