pete & THE pirates / let's wrestle / artefacts for space travel

From LET’S WRESTLE’s shuffling entrance onto stage it’s immediately clear that theirs is not be a performance high on glitz or schmaltz. It doesn’t help that the vocals are brought down to barely audible, but the lack of any crowd interaction or set list doesn’t help. The scrap-happy guitars of ‘Joe Reddington’ get the set back on track, but by the end it’s hard to tell whether they’re overwhelmed or just couldn’t really give a toss. From the offset, PETE & THE PIRATES appear confident, following up ‘Knots’ with non-album track ‘Knife’. The stop-start blast of ‘Bright Lights’ sees Radio 1’s Steve Lamacq belting out the hook, while imminent single ‘Mr. Understanding’ provokes jostling and chanting, suggesting they may have a break-out hit on their hands. Their combination of jagged guitars, pitch perfect group harmonies and bouncy anthems come together perfectly, promising much for their forthcoming support date with The Kooks. The final flourish sees them comfortably moving from the jangly romanticism of ‘She Doesn’t Belong To Me’ to surefire floor filler ‘Come On Feet’. The former sees Tommy Sanders crooning “I got up in such a hurry I’m still stuck inside my dream”. That dream doesn’t show any signs of fading away just yet.