John Garner headed out at the end of last week to take a look at The Pins in performance, thanks for the review John.
The New Cross Inn is not the ideal gig venue. It is slightly too small, especially for a band with as big a sound as The Pins.
The Pins
Due to a delayed start numbers had dwindled by the time they had set up, which did not deter them. As the seemingly familiar intro to Promises trickled out from the stage a buzz of excitement could be felt emanating through the room.
The band displayed extremely high levels of enthusiasm, confidence, ability and cohesion. These guys mean serious business, their seemingly unforced performance gave the impression that they spend every waking moment writing, rehearsing and recording.
As a spectacle they are worth seeing. Their front-man, Aaron Page, always found something to do, whether it be singing or throwing himself across the stage in a mad bid to stay mobile and this added to the lively, energetic atmosphere that they were creating.
After opening with Promises the set, shorter than originally planned, contained tracks like the intelligently crafted Leningrad, the inspiringly fresh sound of Shelf Life and flawlessly executed guitar solos in songs like The Silence led to spontaneous boogieing from even the ‘grooviest’ spectators.
There is no doubt that The Pins are a band worth seeing, if you have a chance, but the venue itself would seem to be far more comfortable hosting open mic nights than a large, lively, loud band.
What was refreshing about this gig was that they were clearly enjoying themselves, they put their hearts and souls into their performance, and that’s the end of that chapter.
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