Thursday 06/07/06 Pretty Girls Make Graves @ Islington Academy, London

Seattle favourites Pretty Girls Make Graves roll into London as part of the European leg of their tour. This time round sees them promoting ‘Elan Vital’, their third album from Matador which reinvents the wheel yet again.

Sadly, the Academy isn’t packed out tonight. When the band arrive onstage, they quickly stop playing because of technical difficulties with the bass amp. Singer Andrea Zollo tells the audience “never trust hired equipment” and then goes on to dedicate the rest of the set to the offending amp. Not off to a good start and the crowd aren’t particularly sympathetic. That is until they launch into ‘Parade’, a song influenced by the singers anarchist roots and a call to arms for workers to rise up and overthrow whatever repression agitates them. The London audience are in for a treat as Andrea explains they don’t usually play this song on tour because it requires two drum kits, but the band are feeling “bummed out” about not airing it, so they’re going to give it a whirl. After the lull of the last few songs the audience perk up a bit, fists start to go up in the air and the band’s passion for music and life is finally unleashed. By the end of it bassist Derek Fudesco is thanking the audience for getting into the music and that he’s glad that the show is no longer doomed because of the earlier situation.

Other highlights include ‘The New Romance’ – performed fantastically tonight.  Then they rip through a smattering of songs from the latest album, the sublime ‘Pyrite Pedestal’, ‘The Number’, ‘The Nocturnal House’ and ‘Pictures Of A Night Scene’.   Coming back for the encore, they confer with each other what to play and considerately respond to audience’s suggestions. The last song of the night is probably their best, the post-hardcore romp ‘Speakers Push The Air’. And at last a proper mosh pit forms and people are really feeling it. A fitting way to end the night.