The Pierces

[TheSquirrel]

You all know what a miserable git I am, so it's very rare for me to come out of a gig smiling. Almost against my priniciples. I got that electric feel from them. The sort of thing you get from a band you know is special who is on the verge of really breaking through but are playing in a small intimate venue.

They opened with "Love You More," then did a smashing version of "It Will Not Be Forgotten," which I do agree is one of the best tracks on the album. They encored with "I Put Your Records On," "City On Fire," and "Boring." "City On Fire" is one of those tracks that comes totally alive and takes on a different personality when played live. On rare occasions I stand there and feel this is it, this is what it's all about, this is a high. Hearing Heather Nova singing "I Miss My Sky" was the last time I could list one particlular song in one of my all time favourite 20 live moments. "City On Fire" live is straight in that top 20. They only played an hour including the encores, as they did in Nottingham, but they seemed to be suffering a bit from the heat. For people from Alabama to be suffering from the heat is a bit strange, but I know Americans have discovered this new thing called Air Conditioning. I hope it catches on over here.

The band isn't for everyone. They still have that edge but I'm not sure for how long. They have trouble occasionally holding a note, and aren't the greatest singers, but the together harmonies makes up for that and hides the few imperfections. It was that frozen point in time where a band is going to be big but is still playing small venues, still has an edge, but isn't yet jaded and fed up becasue it's all gone horribly horribly wrong. They are getting bigger every day. Just occasionally you get that Kate Bush moment.

The album is my favourite since "Afterglow" and surprised me in the quality of the songs. "Drag You Down" is another corker. Great production, but the songs transfer to live performances in the same way the McLachlan ones do. Most can be stripped down to acoustic basics too and just sung with a guitar, the sign of a good song.