I overdid it this year at CMJ, breaking most of my rules of weeklong festival-going — "don't forget to eat," "no booze after 1AM," "make time for a nap," — and spent most of the week following in bed with a bad cold. I will probably not go back and recount all of this year's fest, but without a doubt my favorite band of the week was Pete & the Pirates who were so good at their first show of the week (10/21 at the Bell House) I ended up seeing them three more times during the course of CMJ. The band are so tight, so tunefull, so entertaining to watch (and not in a showy way) that I don't know how you could go away unimpressed.
The Bell House show was the closest P&Ps did to a full show. They headlined, the crowd was genuinely pumped to see their first NYC show and seemed to know all the words, and we stomped and clapped until they sheepishly came back for an encore. But the best gig was probably at the Brooklyn Vegan day party at Pianos on Saturday (10/24) where they played with no monitors and almost in the dark. But again, the crowd was so into it, Pete & the Pirates lit up the room with their own energy. It was such a success, Pianos had them play again later in the day in the main room. The crowd was even into the three or four new songs the band tried out on us and I think we're all counting the days till we can hear them again — whether it's a new album, or another visit to these shores.
MP3: Pete & the Pirates – Jennifer
Here's video I shot of them doing "Bright Lights" from the Bell House gig: