Passion Pit fare better than beggar

Boston synth gang Passion Pit have excited many with their fluorescent muppet-pop on record but could they translate such iridescent joy into a winning live performance?

On Wednesday night @ Heaven a take on ‘Little Secrets’ may have suggested otherwise when the brilliant album track from debut Manners was stopped after a laptop went awry.

Lead geek Michael Angelakos and Co had better luck the second time round and threw themselves into a tremendously forceful, if ragged, rendition. ‘Sleepyhead’ leant less on the Irish folk sample than the original and was better for it, while the overall set emphasis was always on the euphoric, post-house music element of the band’s sound.

‘The Reeling’ rounded off the show far more convincingly than it ended the band’s Glasto set last Saturday and the damp, satisfied PP fans sloped off into the night. Or at least as far as The Ship And Shovell next door.

For a pub near Charing Cross, it's well worth a visit. Experienced London drinkers will know about the paucity of good pubs on the manor. The nearest top-grade hostelry is The Nell Gywnne but that's a bit of a jam along The Strand if you're on Villiers Street and looking for a drink within 50 yards rather than 500.

Towards last orders a homeless fella without any authorised vendor ID tried selling outside drinkers his "last" copy of The Big Issue unsuccessfully. He was unthreatening and good-humoured but a curmudgeonly middle-aged barman in shorts and a pastel-striped shirt moved him on aggressively. The illegitimate flogging of TBI shouldn't be encouraged but sun burnt matey in the striped shirt won himself no new customers with his attitude. Anger, commerce, crime and desperation - a typical London vignette.