Live Review - The Pigeon Detectives at The Wedgewood Rooms

 The Wedgewood Rooms to me is like my second home, and last night (Saturday 11^th May) it was made quite aware to me that it also holds a special kind of place in a certain indie bands heart. Since forming 2004 Yorkshires very own Pigeon Detectives have played the venue 5 times, I've attended at least 3 of those, and every time the band has got more tight, performing harder and stronger than the last.

So, 10 years and 4 albums later The Pigeon Detectives return to Portsmouth, an air of anticipation is in the air, we all knew what was coming and it was clear from the off that everyone was prepared for the inevitable. The Portsmouth date was the final furlong of 15 on the ‘We Met At Sea’ tour, and it was going off with a bang, by the seaside.

As the venue filled itself up first support act HARES took to the stage, a bubblegum- grunge phoenix rising from the burning embers of The Holloways. Looking like they’d just walked off of Camden high street, the recognisable face of Robb Skipper (vocals/guitar) was joined by Jack Flanagan (bass) and Adam Sullivan (drums).

No strangers to a Portsmouth crowd having recently played The Cellars, HARES took to their set steady with a post-grunge/baggy indie sound, complimenting each other nicely with some top form between song banter. Check their new EP ‘Coastlines’.

Next up were 4-peice MUST, also hailing from London. A band that consists of funky bass lines, a sweeter kinda shoegaze sound and a lot of toilet paper (a reference that only those in attendance of the gig will understand). Stand out tracks from the MUST set include ‘Die For You’ and ‘The Devil Lives’.

Now near full to capacity, The Wedgewood Rooms was ready for headline act The Pigeon Detectives. A crowd ranging from teenage girls to burly older men, battle lines were drawn, the lights dimmed and they took to the stage. Opening with ‘We Met At Sea’ track ‘I Won’t Come Back’, the still audience was now a sea of arms and bodies, the stage a blur of the erratic Pigeon Detectives lead singer Matt Bowman.

A quick word and bow to what Bowman describes as his ‘beloved Pompey’ the band tore into first album anthem ‘I Found Out’, moving everyone into pure delirium. Only 2 songs into a 17-song strong set The Pigeon Detectives had the capacity crowd in the palm of their hands, the backline tight from the off, but this is what we all expected. Following ‘I Found Out’ from ‘Up guards and at’em’ was ‘What Can I Say’ into second album single release ‘This Is An Emergency’ which was complimented by the accommodating all singing, all dancing crowd.

Although new album ‘We Met At Sea’ has been approached in a bad light by the musical media, played live album tracks ‘I Don’t Mind’ ‘Day And Month’ ‘Hold Your Gaze’ and opener ‘I Won’t Come Back’ slip nicely into The Pigeon Detectives live set up, with confidence around previous albums materials.

As always Bowman was on top form with crowd interaction, at one point crowd surfing over the first few rows as well as apologising to a female on the front row that I can only name as ‘Amanda’, in the unfortunate case of having his crotch in her face. Bottles and bottles of water were disposed of over himself or into the raucous crowd and the trademark jumping splits and microphone swing were continuously in action.

In a personal first before ‘Go At It Completely’ Bowman kindly asked every member of the audience to climb the shoulders of a friend, or not a friend in my case, before he could finish his sentence I was on the shoulders of another member of the audience, crowd surfing alongside members of HARES and MUST. Now a sweaty and very wet mess Bowman confirmed that the band would be going off for an encore but we must not ‘mug ourselves’ into thinking they aren’t coming back, he also confirmed that the next time the band return to the city they would take the party down to the seafront itself and into The Pyramids.

 In their return they smash into second album track ‘Everybody Wants Me’ followed by the few final crowd sways and circle pits during ‘Take Her Back’ ‘Hold Your Gaze’ and Indie banger ‘I’m Not Sorry’. As the final thank you was said, some more toilet paper was thrown and water was poured, The Wedgewood Rooms crowd ran onto empty and into the night.

The Pigeon Detectives are now to embark on a European tour on the back of their new album which you can buy in all good record stores, and in the words of the band themselves “Keep music alive, buy music”.

Images courtesy of TomLangfordPhotography.