The Pipettes Xmas Party @ The Roundhouse

I wasn't feeling particularly festive two days before Christmas and was starting to get worried that the whole holiday would just float by without me noticing. Luckily i'd bought tickets to The Pipettes Xmas Party back in October because after it, i felt as jolly as Santa himself.
The venue seemed massive for the band, but as the three front ladies walked on stage with their extended band, now containing a string section, you knew that they could fill it. They launched straight into Sex and the crowd, who were obviously here to have a good time, started having one. Santa hats were bopping up and down as were a few reindeer antlers, while Becki, Gwenno and Rose were synchronously dance their arses off and seemed to be having a whale of a time. They played every track off their debut album, which for some bands would mean playing a few appauling songs but the album is jam-packing with songs of such a high quality and the fact the the girls, and boys, put so much energy into each of them that the performance was never a bore.
The final song of the set was Pull Shapes and seeing the girls on stage, all in matching outfits, doing the dance moves, something just clicked. The album made sense all of a sudden, or made more sense than just listening to it in the car or while trying to work. With the whole package, it became something bigger, something alot more fulfilling and fun.
Their encore consisted of A Winter's Sky, ...Dance So Well, a specially written Christmas song, which i can't really remember, and an awesome version of Mariah's All I Want For Christmas Is You, at which point snow began to fall from the ceiling of The Roundhouse and everyone was smiling and dancing.
The Pipettes may have pipped Tilly And The Wall to the post for the most enjoyable gig of the year and i can now listen to the album and imagine the dance routines, maybe even try them myself.

The Pipettes - Sex
The Pipettes - A Winter's Sky

Thanks to Lonesome Cowboy Glen for the photo