After their critically acclaimed debut Little Death Pete & the Pirates resurface four years later to tour their second album One thousand pictures. The album shows that it has been four years in the making and is all in all more solemn and slow than their retro-poppy debut. But it’s a good thing for a band to evolve. Their latest album shows that there is more depth to this band than their hit single Mr Understanding would suggest.
I didn’t know that Pete & the Pirates were so popular in Germany so I was quite surprised that the venue was already packed when I got there halfway through the support band’s set. The support band were local Berliners Empire Escape who were previously known by the name Ikaria. I must say the new name suits their dark post-punk sound a lot better than the old one. When I got in, the singer was giving away CDs to the audience. For those of you who weren’t there or couldn’t get one the song is available for free download via the soundcloud player below.
It didn’t take much longer for Pete & the Pirates to arrive. The band kicked of with a song from their second record, Little Gun. It didn’t take long for the audience to dance and sing along. By the time they got to Mr Understanding everybody was moving their feet and chanting dududududududududu (you know what I mean if you know the song).
I particularly loved the band’s interaction with the audience, you could see they were really enjoying themselves and amazed by the crowd that was there to see them. They made jokes, performed a hilarious dance and during the encore Thomas (vocals, guitar) jumped into the audience to play a guitar solo to a what felt like 10 minutes version of Blood gets thin.
The band thanked the audience for the great time they had and said it made up for the terrible time they had the last time they were in Berlin. I wonder what happened there. Anyway, I guess everyone had a ball and I’m eager for next time.
Come To The Bar by Pete And The Pirates
