Thursday 25/09/2003 Pontoon, Simple Kid @ Barfly, Liverpool

If you think that Liverpool is full of little Lee Mavers, bowl-head haircuts and Beatles sing-alongs, then take another look.  There are tracksuits, trainers and closely cropped heads as far as the eye can see.  For many years, these urchins have shared the dreams of many - picking up instruments, forming bands.  For most it never really passes the “sounds like the Floyd kidda” stage, but Pontoon have got the chance to go much further.  They don’t call it the rock and dole for nothing, and Pontoon celebrate the giro culture in the same way that Half Man Half Biscuit celebrate snooker referees.  “This one’s about robbing scrap”, “This one’s about selling skunk”.  The songs are about the small things and are full of cannily observed truths that have the audience in stitches.  It would be easy to dismiss Pontoon as a bit of a joke given that the lyrics are in general laugh out loud funny, but that would do them a dis-service.  There is more than enough diversity in their ramshackle cocktail of rock, funk, soul and reggae to show that they are more than a one trick pony.

In the twelve months since Simple Kid last played Liverpool, the few who were present have eagerly awaited more.  The debut album Simple Kid 1 has finally arrived, and the crowd is somewhat bigger.  There are even a few in the crowd who have donned the Kid’s trademark trucker cap.  There is a sense of expectation in the air. Ciaran McFeely takes to the stage solo save for drum machine accompaniment and starts with 'The Commuter', which sets out exactly where Simple Kid is coming from – wryly observed notes on everyday life delivered in a downbeat style over an astute mix of glam rock beats and Americana guitars.  “I’m just a man, got the cancer eating me”, wails the protagonist before telling his boss where to stick his job.

The rest of the band join him, and together they show that there is a hatful of great tracks in the Simple Kid songbook– the Alabama 3 meets Led Zeppelin of Drugs, the Kinksian Supertramp's and Superstars rant against the Camden gliterrati and the non more T Rex of I Am Rock all make a great impression.  The bootlegging of current single 'Average Man' and Sabbath’s Paranoid is an amusing if pointless bit of showing off.  Everything is delivered perfectly, and while a lot of bands suffer from trying too hard, Simple Kid manage to stay on just the right side of calculating, more like the musical magpies Beck and Super Furry Animals than the self inflated ego of a Robbie Williams.

High class entertainment, great songs and mid-set, autograph hunting stage invasions – what more could you ask for?