Los Campesinos! is one of my most favourite bands of all-time due to a number of things. Their records are simply amazing to listen to. The lyrics are unusually twisted but totally brilliant. Seeing them live is a completely different experience.
I’ve seen them twice last year, the first at Koko in February and the second at The Garage in July. There would have been a third time if they didn’t cancel their show at Shepherd’s Bush Empire in May or if I woke up in time to catch my bus and go all the way up to Leeds for the Constellations Festival.
The first time I saw them was absolutely exhilarating and mind-blowing. I’ve been to a lot of gigs last year, and the one at Koko was one of the craziest ones. The show at The Garage was a step back even though Johnny Foreigner was supporting as I was with a girl and had to behave myself whilst Los Campesinos! performed.
This time, I had no date and was set on having a totally amazing evening. It turned out so much better than I hoped it to be.
The queue outside Shepherd’s Bush Empire was relatively short and there was no need to use O2 Priority access to enter the venue earlier as I had more than enough time before the first support would start on stage.
The first support band already has quite a bit of buzz surrounding them. Their single Colours, is out on Youtube and is a nice introduction to their sound. The band is called Grouplove from California. Their set was pretty incredible but they really got the crowd cheering when they played Colours. This is one band you need to check out sooner than later. Or you could simply wait until the end of the year and read them on a number of year end lists. With that said, I’m seeing them again in a few weeks headlining a show in a much smaller venue (Old Queen’s Head).
Second support for the evening was Summer Camp whom I’ve seen before when they where called to support Kele in November. They weren’t as warmly accepted by the crowd compared to Grouplove but they still put on an enjoyable show. There was a small group of girls beside me who were singing and dancing to their songs, clearly big fans of the group. It was very nice seeing them again perform but their sound (synth-pop) doesn’t really fit in with Grouplove and Los Campesinos!.
Two support bands are always lovely as it burns the waiting time until the headliner much more quickly than usual. Having someone to talk to is also an option for burning time, but nothing really beats a smartphone.
Los Campesinos! eventually parade on stage with all 7 members. At this point, I was somewhere close to the middle. During the first two songs, I somehow managed to make it to the barrier right in front of the stage.
Los Campesinos! opened up this evening’s set with In Media Res, which is also the first song of their latest album, Romance Is Boring. It got crazy right from the start and this time, I was more than prepared to let it all out and absorb the craziness. This was then followed by the first song from Hold On Now, Youngster, Death To Los Campesinos!. Everyone was pretty much pushing and shoving at this point in attempts to dance along with the band.
Up next were two songs with the longest yet most brilliant titles, A Heat Rash In The Shape Of The Show Me State Or, Letters From Me To Charlotte and This Is How You Spell, “HAHAHA, We Destroyed the Hopes and Dreams of a Generation of Faux-Romantics”. I really enjoy the All’s Well That Ends version of Letters From Me To Charlotte but the original version from Romance Is Boring is always a fun song live. This Is How You Spell… is another favourite live, one which is always great to sing (scream) along with.
As mentioned repeatedly on their Twitter account, new songs were to be expected. Two in a row where played right in the middle of their set, Four Seasons and The Black Bird, The Dark Slope. The first seemed a little bit different but was still well done. The second was more typical Los Campesinos! funfare. According to Gareth, they would be available in the first edition of Heat Rash (their online zine) which should be available soon.
Here’s the complete setlist for the evening straight from Setlist.fm.
- In Media Res
- Death To Los Campesinos!
- Miserabilia
- A Heat Rash In The Shape Of The Show Me State Or, Letters From Me To Charlotte
- This Is How You Spell, “HAHAHA, We Destroyed the Hopes and Dreams of a Generation of Faux-Romantics”
- Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown #1
- Four Seasons
- The Black Bird, The Dark Slope
- Straight In At 101
- We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
- Romance Is Boring
- You! Me! Dancing!
- The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future
- Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks
- Knee Deep At ATP (encore)
- … And We Exhale And Roll Our Eyes In Unison (encore)
The songs after the new ones brought back the insanity in the show after the crowd stood back and simply listened at the new ones. You! Me! Dancing! had the longest intro I’ve seen them do so far and this just built up the anticipation to the song, which is one of their best songs ever.
Things slowed down a little with one of my most favourite songs of 2010 ( I should make this list already), The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future. Just love the smile on Gareth’s face when everyone was singing “But you could never kiss a Tory boy without wanting to cut off your tongue again” with him. The song is beyond beautiful and makes me want to drive down to Brighton, sit by the beach and really think about the future.
Closed their regular set Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks which has lines like “When the smaller picture is the same as the bigger picture, you know that you’re fucked. When you’re trading paper cuts for splinters, you’re out of luck”. If you don’t think that’s just beautiful, I don’t know what is.
Typically, they were back on stage within a few seconds for an encore which included a couple of songs Knee Deep At ATP and …And We Exhale And Roll Our Eyes In Unison, a song which I’ve never heard then play live before which is always a good thing.
Despite hopes of hearing Too Many Flesh Suppers live were shattered, the setlist was quite amazing. The new songs were interesting and make me anticipate Heat Rash even more. The old songs are always fun to hear live and dance/sing along to.
As with Broken Social Scene and Arcade Fire, watching Los Campesinos! perform is a truly wondrous experience. It’s amazing seven people can be on stage and just have an absolute blast having fun and still play great music.
Mentioned earlier that I was right at the front of the stage. I used to enjoy watching Kim Campesinos! mostly but this evening, I fell in love with someone else, Harriet Campesinos! who plays the violin as I was right in front of her. She just seemed so prim and proper whilst onstage during a rock show. She also has the prettiest smile which she flashed whenever they finished a song. I do think she was a bit conscious as her parents where present and watching her from level 1 seats.
All in all, this clearly was a Los Campesinos! show I was expecting it to be, crazy, insane and fun. As hard as I am these days on trying to cut down on gigs I go to, I will never stop watching Los Campesinos! live. Expect me to be there everytime they play in London.
