Little Man Tate's recent Islington Carling Academy gig was all about them. You had to feel just a tad bad for support band Inner City Pirates at their recent Carling Academy gig. Despite boasting a front man with more range than Bruce Dickinson and more poor gags then Bruce Forsyth, they just could not win over the crowd during their brief setlist.
Thankfully for them, it was all over quickly, and at the strike of the half hour, the lights dimmed, the volume rose and the audience was treated to a Killers-style anticipated intro before the casually-dressed four best friends graced us with their presence and the crowd got what they had waited so patiently for.
Unsurprisingly, there was a lot of album plugging. They launched with 'Money Wheel', the opening track of new album Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy'. It came complete with energy, sprite and cider-fuelled vitriol. The crowd were indulged not long after with recent single 'Hey Little Sweetie', which got the cheer they were looking for. It seemed most of the crowd weren't as familiar with the new material, but the band stayed true to their new work, playing no less than six tracks from it.
Even if they may not have been completely sure what it was, the audience - all half-full of it, bobbed along regardless. Songs like 'She Looked like Audrey Hepburn', which possibly owes more of itself to 'Vogue' by Madonna than the band may like to admit, certainly had everyone immersed in the music. Catchy, fun and well constructed, this was probably the best song of the night, though the crowd's favourite was still to come.
First album hit and resident pop-friendly dance tune 'Sexy in Latin' saw the creation of a rather unexpected mini-mosh-pit at the front. It was frantic stuff as the mix of teenage girls and slightly ageing men rubbed shoulders to bop to the friendly sounds.
Charismatic front-man Jon was on top form, producing expressive emotions and putting a lot of energy into his performance, as opposed to Maz and Ben (we'll excuse Dan the drummer) who could probably tell you exactly how many tiles are on the Academy stage. Jon's enthusiasm rubbed off on the crowd, who listened to a flurry of new tracks, including 'What Your Boyfriend Said', 'Back Of The Pub Quiz' and 'Joined By An iPod', called for their return and got their reward of a plethora of songs from the first album.
This was a short-but-sweet hour-ish set which was, on the whole, enjoyable, if not overly special.
Rating: 3.5/5