Pete Yorn HMV Institute Birmingham

I missed seeing Pete Yorn play around 8 years ago, because a friend & his then girlfriend,  were on the rocks. I decided not to go to the gig with them to give them a chance to reconnect without my usual drunk ramblings getting in the way. I had to wait until May 2011 for Pete to tour the UK again. When he came on stage with his band, they looked like street fighter's from Scorsese's Gangs Of New York. The guitarist with his long, lank hair and switch-blade eyes played sparingly throughout the set adding only 'just enough' to the songs. The bass player resembles Mario out of the popular Nintendo game, but plumbing aside, he effortlessly sang perfect harmonies, even doing Scarlett Johansson's vocal part on the 2009 hit, Relator. Pete Yorn may just have *THE* best hair in modern rock. Tonight's particular barnet resembled Mario Kempes awesome 1978 World Cup winning thatch. 














Yorn is a great showman, who really delivers a good, solid set, sometimes mercurial, especially with an acoustic guitar. He goes into a trance like state occasionally on-stage, completely lost in his music & almost seemingly reliving his lyrics. The opening cover of The Smiths 'Panic' was an easy song to segue into his well known originals such as, Life On A Chain, Strange Condition, All At Once & For Nancy, which is where Pete really sounds at his best. Yorn has released 5 full length records since Music For The Morning After, and hasn't really delivered on the early promise of his first two records. Nightcrawler (3rd lp) and Back & Forth (4th) had their moments, but for me, didn't contain the catchy power pop singles that his early albums had. The record with Johansson  has some catchy tunes, but was probably a vehicle by the record company to get them both some exposure. His contemporary Jesse Malin has a similar vibe on his early records (The Fine Art Of Self Destruction & The Heat) but changed back to his earlier punk sound (D Generation) to refresh his output. Maybe Yorn needs to have a look at his own back catalogue. However, his live show is fantastic, with similarities to Springsteen and Big Star to keep the set pumping for 90 minutes. I hope Pete tours again in the Uk, preferably before 2019. 

First 4 minutes, a typical lp filler....then Life On A Chain 

The after show meet at the merch store did not go that well, as my drunk pal tried to sing harmonies with Pete. My friend "Nah...nah...you doing it wrong"......Pete "Well man, you are singin' my part.....I wrote it, I should know"