The Pigeon Detectives, Pull Tiger Tail - Kings College, London - Monday 5th March 2007

Kings College is a great venue - where else do you get a lift from street level to the gigging rooms - then get confronted with a mini Students Union - complete with £2.50 pints, and cheesy chips available from the canteen - when you get up there? Astounding, and more venues should be like this! The Pigeon Detectives had a sold out crowd, full of expectation, especially given their recent chart success with latest single Romantic Type.

The first band I saw were called Pull Tiger Tail, who I had been annoyed to miss supporting We Are Scientists, because of my trip to the US last week. They came on stage and initially played a few decent-sounding songs with just a keyboardist, guitarist/vocalist, and drummer. They lead vocalist in particular was a busy man, with jangly guitars, and quickfire vocals jostling for position in their catchy songs. After a few songs, the keyboardist turned into pretty much a full-time guitarist too, which meant that the songs got that much rockier - always a good thing!

Their set was over too briefly, the last 2 or 3 songs in particular being very memorable. I possibly wouldn't go out of my way to see them headline a gig just yet, but they are absolutely worth turning up early for if they are on a support bill in future. In fact, I hope to see them again soon.

The Pigeon Detectives bounded on stage in a very energetic way - and stayed that way for their whole set. Kicking off with You Know I Love You, then launching straight into Romantic Type after that, they had won the audience over by the end of the second song. The lead singer in particular was crazy - diving into the crowd, jumping off speakers, climbing over the drumkit, and swinging his mike around the whole while.

Their songs were generally excellent I thought, there were very few nondescript ones, and plenty of very good ones - it will make for an album that should be well worth buying. But the stage presence and performance of the lead singer was really what made this show great for me - he had the crowd eating from the palm of his hand, with good banter, fantastic energy and manic jumping around. This is a band with a good-sized collection of very decent songs, but you have to see them live to really get why they are a special band.