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It’s been said before but the ICA really is a soulless art-hole, heavily plugged corporate sponsorship by iTunes doesn’t bode well for an atmospheric evening either but tonight something’s different - hundreds of geared up teenage music fans breathing life into the venue. Apparently this is the most oversubscribed gig from the iTunes festival, or lottery as they call it and it is a lottery if there’s equal chance of catching Black Rebel Motorcycle Club or The View.
First up, The Pigeon Detectives play to room that is emptier then necessary due to the preposterous queues outside but that doesn’t dampen spirits. Matt’s scissor kicking, banana eating, jacket swinging theatrics are rapturously received by the audience and more voices keep joining in with the giant sing-a-long of their songs ‘I’m Not Sorry’ and ‘Wait for Me’ until a football stadium effect is achieved. If you like your pop quirky or your indie accessible then you could do worse than see the Pigeon Detectives who seem genuine and hard working, if a little pedestrian.
The Rakes take to the stage with the assurance of elder statesmen; immediately the music has more depth, more grit and despite the relatively light tunefulness of their songs an underground Berlin punk sensibility underlies everything. Early Rakes performances were truly exciting- they came out spitting in the manner of a young Paul Weller- educated and angry, then for a while they seemed to lose their edge but it seems that now they’ve achieved something remarkable; authority, stage presence.
The quality of their back catalogue is evident as one song after another hurtles past you lifting you up. Matthew’s riffs have always been superbly catchy with echoes of Wire, The Stranglers or Elastica but the 90’s Britpop influence from the first album seems to have mutated into 80’s pop b- Blondie or Duran Duran maybe. Songs from both albums are performed - ‘Strasbourg’ and ‘22 Grand Job’ get fists pumping, ‘We Are All Animals’ and ‘Suspicious Eyes’ get toes tapping but it is an incendiary finale of ‘The World Was A Mess But His Hair Was Perfect’ that blows everybody away, the energy from the stage making you feel as if you’re standing in a wind tunnel.
Tonight The Rakes proved that their live performance is as vital and even more well-honed than they’ve ever been.
