By the time I got into the venue, the very pretty surroundings of Chorlton’s St Clements, a quaint and notably diminutive parish church, the opening support Mad Winter had, by this point, unfortunately left the stage. However, as luck would have it, the second support of the evening False Advertising were already mid-session and warming up the gathering crowd nicely. Fronted by a female lead (Jen Hingley), who, part way through the gig, retired to the drums, allowing co-lead (Chris Warr) to get behind the mike—a quirky facet of their performance style—they offered up a honed, evocative and engaging selection of melodic tunes and accomplished Garage Rock. This as an entrée to the main event was particularly well received and, by the time the headliners arrived on stage, the crowd, now fully gathered, were suitably beer-sodden and more than ready to pogo the night away. Which they did with gusto, but I’ll get to that in a minute.
And so to PINS, a young band full of vim and terse Mancunian attitude, whose months on tour have obviously served them well. As this was an utterly polished performance. For, as far as I could see anyway, they were the master technicians, the faultless puppeteers, and the drunken loons pogoing like nutters in the heart of the chapel, their unwitting marionettes. And, just like banshees on a mission, PINS preceded to rip right through their riotous set; an orchestrated whirlwind carrying the siren’s call of album favourites ‘Dazed By You’, ‘Curse These Dreams’, ‘Got It Bad’ and ‘Baby Bhangs’. And the crowd surfing! What a sight to behold, a cherubic, or, maybe on second thoughts I really ought to say, a demonic Faith Holgate, lifted on high as though she herself were a votive in a sacrificial offering. And lastly, it seems I have the overwhelming need to give an extra special nod to PINS drummer, Sophie Galpin. Her stabbing beats and rolling tom-toms, a mesmerising combination reminiscent of New Order and their man in the saddle, the very gifted Stephen Morris, made me feel very much at home. Thank you ladies for an exceptionally good night.
Special thanks to Urszula Karolina for providing such fantastic photos.
