By DJ Astrocreep
An evening of soft melodies and prog awaits as I finally catch The Pineapple Thief live for the first time.
Despite the plethora of established artists he has already worked with, I am strangely unaware of our sole support, Randy McStine.
It starts off a little strangely, though it’s soon apparent why, as he adds more and more loops to layer his sound. As soon as the loops start to take proper hold so he can start properly, the beauty of his music starts to pour out. Highly enjoyable, highly melodic with some absolutely stunning sounds coming out of what at first like sound pretty weird sounds.
The crowd seems unsure at first, like myself, but quickly seems to warm to him. He does an excellent job, weaving his intricate layers and musical webs and earns a good level of applause from a fairly full room by the time he finishes. A really well worked set that will have gained him a fair few new fans.
As The Pineapple Thief take to the stage, there is a definite buzz of anticipation and with good reason – first night of a new tour, a band often picks a venue or at least a city that holds a special place in their heart and there is no way of knowing what is to come in the set. We needn’t have fretted, though, as the absolute beauty of their music rings out and we are all singing along. Given it’s the first night of the tour, I won’t be mentioning as many songs as I normally would in this review, so as to not spoil what’s to come for anyone else lucky enough to have a ticket for this tour.
There are a lot of singalong spots for us all to exercise our lungs too, clap along and a whole lot of just general smiles and happy faces at the quality of the set, both in song choices and in the sheer quality of the playing. The live guitarist (who has had input on the latest release, too, and must surely be on course for joining TPT full time) is absolutely electric, smashing solo after solo. Even then, it’s hard to pick him as a standout, such as the quality right across the band tonight.
We had a few tracks from just released album ‘It Leads To This’, including the title track and ‘Every Trace Of Us’. Another particular high point for me is ‘Give It Back’, which I’ve waited to hear live pretty much since its release.
There is not a note out of place on either the softer, more delicate end nor when they progress further into their harder rock level, which comes through the set as inevitably as an onrushing wave, hitting a perfect crescendo as they delve deeper into it all.
The end of the main part of the set almost hits as a stunning blow, so quickly has the time flown by, leaving is reeling slightly as they take two minutes just off stage before coming back on for a double encore. It feels like one of those nights that feels far too short, despite the volume of music we actually get.
As even the band themselves must be thinking, what a start to the new tour, which has just crossed over into Europe but finishes a the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London on Saturday 16 March.
