Russell Hughes@Think Tank? Newcastle 07/11/2016
Instantly disarming, effortlessly charming and endlessly listenable: Press To MECO have a lot going for them and the Think Tank gig showcased a band at their best.
Never mind getting the best out of his band, Luke Caley gets the best out of the crowd and warmed them up for Shvpes, whose fire and brimstone approach deserved a larger following, in expert fashion.
Some have come to Newcastle and wilted at a thinly dispersed crowd, but Caley immediately got them bunched at the front and in fine voice. PTM are exactly the sort of band to heat up a cold November evening but they still had to deliver, which they did to perfection. Combining a circle pit and tribute to Harambe is no easy feat and it proves how at ease they are with their crowd and on stage.
The three piece have just finished recording their second album, but based on this evidence one was more than enough as the crowd lapped up the best they had to offer.
Songs like Manipulate and Ghosts sound good on record but it takes a live setting to appreciate how intricate they are to play and the skill that goes behind pulling it off. In fact, there is a lot that could go wrong in any one of their songs but the band executed them all expertly.
The trio are clearly close friends and feed off each other’s energy and in many ways there is no clear frontman as Caley, Adam Roffey and Lewis Williams take turns having fun with the crowd – Roffey even invited them to slow dance during the only downtempo song of the set, Autopsy.
Press To MECO are named after the stage in which a space ship can still reach orbit after losing one of their engines and it wouldn’t be a bad bet to put money on the band taking off like a rocket in the next few years.