Venue: The King William, Northampton     Date: 15th February, 2002

Set list: T.A.N.U.S., The Return of the Ultragravy, John Doe #1, (intermission), Escape, Call To Whoever, Mute, Proximity.

The King Billy, as it is locally known, is set at the outer edge of Northampton's town centre and is easily found by anyone who knows the general area.  The pub has a relaxed feel: loud rock music was playing, pictures displayed on the walls announced a liking for 70s rock idols, and the posters advertising bands showed that heavy rock and 80s cover bands were the more usual type of groups that appear here.

Not necessarily the ideal venue for the sophisticated, jazzy music that Thieves' Kitchen have produced on their first two albums perhaps - but with the dearth of live music venues that will feature original music these days, beggars can't be choosers - and the band wanted to play their debut live show at a UK venue before jetting off to the USA for a short tour, including BajaProg...

The pub has a U-shaped public area with the bar down the centre and the area allocated to Thieves' Kitchen was in one corner.  Vocalist Simon Boys took the centre space flanked by Andy Bonham on bass and guitarist Phil Mercy; slightly in front of Phil was Wolfgang Kindl with his keyboards, and Mark Robotham had his drum kit set up on a small podium at the back.

TK took their places and waited for the growling vocals that were issuing forth from the pub speakers to stop before launching into the sinuous epic 'T.A.N.U.S.' from their 2000 album 'Head'. A slight touch of nerves was evident initially - after all this was the first time that they had played together in public as a band - but this soon dissipated and another track from the same album, 'The Return of the Ultragravy' saw them relaxing and, as a consequence, becoming a tighter musical unit.  Particularly enjoyable on this track (and a feature of many of the pieces) was the clear piano sounds that creates highlights and emphasises sections of the instrumentation.

By the time they got to 'John Doe #1', the first of the tracks from their latest album 'Argot', Thieves' Kitchen were obviously enjoying themselves and the sheer musicianship of each of the band members was becoming clear - it's one thing to hear music that's been recorded in a studio over a period of time, and slotted together afterwards; another thing entirely to hear the five guys playing together and still managing to produce the intricate interwoven sounds that appear on the albums.

After this forty minute or so set, there was a short intermission before TK continued with a couple more tracks from 'Argot': 'Escape' and 'Call To Whoever'; 'Mute' (from 'Head') and 'Proximity' ('Argot') - another hour's worth of music.  Throughout these numbers they maintained the blend of rich instrumentation, convoluted rhythms and light piano highlights that we have come to expect from them.

I must say that we were very impressed by Thieves' Kitchen's professionalism, it would have been impossible to tell that this was their first ever gig had I not known beforehand - and the music comes over even better live than it does on the CDs.  Judging by this performance, all who get the chance to see them - in the States over the next couple of weeks, or later in the year - should make an effort and do so ... I really don't think you'll be disappointed!

Marisa