The Pigeon Detectives @ Birmingham Academy – 1st June 2008

Sunday night saw the first day of two sell out dates at Birmingham’s Carling Academy for Yorkshire’s finest, The Pigeon Detectives.

Formed in 2002 and hailing from Rothwell the band have persevered and carved their names in stone in the music business. Gaining support slots with Dirty Pretty Things and Kaiser Chiefs helped their cause somewhat, and having a big fan in Radio One’s Jo Whiley did nothing but help them along the way.

The release of their debut album Wait For Me produced by Will Jackson championed this cause by going to gold status and charting at number 3 in its first week of release.

The eagerly awaited new album ‘Emergency’ was released on the 28th May 2008 to rave reviews, the current tour celebrated the album’s release and was for the Pigeons to pedal their musical wares and show to the British public what they’re best at, and that’s seeing the ‘Pigeons’ live and raw.

The Academy was packed to the rafters with fashion conscious teens with trendy haircuts and the latest designer gear, with a few trimmings of lager loutish behaviour from young lads high on the excitement and maybe a little alcohol.

I was astounded at the amount of young girls on the front row – they outnumbered the boys 5-1 – and, not surprisingly, the amount of screams and yells of ‘Oh Matt’ when the Pigeons finally graced the stage.

Twisted Wheel from Oldham provided the first support of the night. Their 30 min set was very jolly and quite up tempo, it was easy on the ear and the audience seemed to enjoy it. I found my foot tapping at every opportunity, which in essence means they were great tunes.

Jonny Brown, the fresh faced vocalist, proved to be exemplary at portraying each song, with the audience waiting for each track as if listening for a pin to drop. You stole the sun was definitely a crowd pleaser. It’s no wonder they have been receiving rave reviews from the likes of NME and and Music Week.

Kentucky-based group Cage The Elephant proved that they were well worth the second support slot.

This band blew me away! Matt Schultz on lead vocals was astounding, so full of oomph, I honestly thought he’d been hit by lightning or he’d had an accident with a mains wire. oOher than Matt Bowman [Lead vocalist of Pigeon Detectives] I’ve never witnessed so much energy on stage.

The audience picked up on the positive vibe and were well up for the 30 min set, so much so they tried to crush each other by moshing so hard, reminiscent of playground game ‘Bumper Cars’. The poor girls on the front row took a severe battering!

New single Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked, took pride of place in the set, followed up by The Green Room and In One Ear. Lincoln Parish was astounding on lead guitar – could he make that guitar weep! he tantilized my taste buds for more, so much so I cant wait to see them at Bar Academy in a few weeks. What a spectacle that’ll be!!

Pigeon Detectives are one of the most energetic bands I’ve ever seen, and tonight they didn’t disappoint.

Their appearance was eagerly anticipated by the audience who had been whipped up in to a frenzy and sang with such vigor to the likes of the Fratellis and Arctic Monkeys over the Academy sound system beforehand, evocative of festival behavior for sure.

Just over an hours set, the play list consisted of:

Emergency
I Found Out
You Know I Love You
Stop Or Go
I’m Not Gonna Take This
Keep On Your Dress
Don’t Know How To Say Goodbye
Nothing To Do With You
Romantic Type
Better Not Look That Way
Can’t Control Myself
Say It Like You Mean It
Caught In Your Trap
Making Up Numbers
Take Her Back
I’m A Liar
You Don’t Need It
I’m Always Right
Wait For Me
I’m Not Sorry

The set started off with what is gonna be one of the summer 2008 anthems, Emergency. Welcomed with euphoric applause and heckling, Bowman lapped it up and yelled, ‘Going out with’ a few times much to the audience’s delight, loads of audience participation, they lingered on his every word.

Leaping around the stage like a demented man, jumping so high at one stage off one of the monitors [good job they were strapped down!!], missing his footing and falling in front of me on one of the strapping security guys, who luckily helped him back to his feet.

The audience were hyped up so much during the set it was exhausting to watch, Bowman with sweat dripping from every oriphis, looked like he’d done ten rounds with Tyson.

Value for money, yes! It’s no wonder this is a sell out tour.

An hour’s entertainment provided at break-neck speed, the audience didn’t have time to breathe before it was all over – hot, sweaty, sticky and happy, ready to go home for a well earned shower and sleep.

Review & Photos – Michelle Owen

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