The Automatic cause mayhem at shop show

The Automatic played a free gig at London‘s Virgin Megastore last night (September 22).

The band performed an energetic 30 minute set for a small group of fans – including NME.COM competition winners – at the Oxford Street branch which culminated in keyboardist Alex Pennie putting his foot through the shop’s wall.

The gig, which was set up to promote The Automatic’s new single ‘Recover’, also saw frontman Rob Hawkins play a flute for the Welsh four-piece’s cover of the Kanye West track, ‘Gold Digger’.

Speaking before their set Hawkins told NME.COM: “We’ve been looking forward to playing this gig. We’ve just got to the stage now when we’re that confident we can just kind of play gigs like this at two minutes notice.”

The band also confirmed that ‘Gold Digger’ is likely to feature as a b-side on their next single.

“We haven’t decided what our next single is going to be but we’re hoping to put it on there. We’re just waiting for clearance,” Pennie explained before guitarist James Frost joked: “C’mon on Kanye we’re making you money for nothing at the minute.”

Throughout the gig, their second after performing at Leeds Virgin Megastore the day before, the band rolled through the likes of recent summer smash ‘Monster’ and previous hit single ‘Raoul’.

They played:

‘That’s What She Said’

‘Recover’

The band are due to perform their biggest UK headlining shows ever when they hit the road for a 25 date tour next month.

Drummer Iwan Griffiths added: “I’m really excited about the tour cos its our biggest tour ever. We’re playing main headline venues like the (London) Astoria which is something really special to us. It’ll be a good way to cap our year off.”

They Automatic will play the following dates:

Exeter Lemon Grove (October 3)

London Forum (3)

For ticket availability go to NME.COM/Gigs.