Hail to the Thief

Wednesday 7 December – I’m going down with man-flu. I could feel it in my bones. My whole body ached. I’ve lost my appetite and trust me, that meant something’s seriously wrong. But nothing, no nothing, was going to stop me from getting out tonight.

We arrived a little after eight o’clock at Fibbers, just in time for the start of the support act, Playing The Pilot. PLP are a York-based group defining themselves as Indie/Alt-rock. Their line up consists of Kat McHugh (lead vocals), Felix Manders-Wilde (guitar/vocals), Ryan Noble: (lead guitar), Matt Davies (bass), and Jack Fisher (drums). When she sang, Kat had a pretty good voice. The real problem for me was that their songs usually ended up with her doing a white girl rap in the style of Lilly Allen, which really didn’t do justice to her voice. The guitarists pretty much seemed to do their own things pumping out tinkly math-rock style riffs, while Jack and Matt propelled the songs along with strong drum lines and workman-like bass. The most memorable track for me was Your Face In The Mirror.

PLPs act was slightly marred by an issue with feedback into the singer’s microphone, either from the bass or drums, and I’m afraid that the soundman hadn’t fixed this problem by the time the headline act took to the stage. Why were The Pineapple Thief playing York? Well, it turned out that, although they are a Somerset band, bass player Jon Sykes is actually a local lad. TPT consist of Bruce Soord (guitar/vocals), Jon Sykes (bass/vocals), Steve Kitch (keyboards), and Keith Harrison (drums). They play prog-rock in the soft/loud/soft style with carefully constructed time signatures that sweep you from one passage of music to the next.

The set consisted of a mixture of tracks from their latest album, Someone Here Is Missing, and a lot of new material. From their current album I certainly recognised; Nothing At Best, Wake Up The Dead, The State We’re In, and Preparation For Breakdown. The majority of the new songs were presented with a lead acoustic guitar which is at odds with their current album but in line with their earlier work Tightly Unwound. Whether the tracks are utilmately ‘beefed up’ for the new album or remain as they are, they still sounded fantasic on a first listen.

For many of the songs the transition from soft to furious loud meant that it was difficult not to shuffle your feet (dancing I think they call it) or head-bang along to the heavy rhythmic sections. Think of a mad collision of Radiohead, Procupine Tree and Pendulum.

Their encore consisted of a current track, a very old one and a very new one, possibly being called Burning Pieces, and likely to be the opening track to new album. A superb gig and I sincerely hope that they will be bringing their new album on tour to York in the not too distant future.