1,338 LOS CAMPESINOS! Bristol Exchange, Sunday 21st July 2024 (matinee)

 

This one came at me suddenly; a slight flip on the “CD+show+signing” events that Bristol Rough Trade have been recently well-known for (essentially, either the CD or the gig is free, whichever way you look at it, so I’m up for that anytime!), this Specialist Subject promotion promised a CD and late afternoon performance at Bristol Exchange from veteran Welsh cerebral and political indie pop collective Los Campesinos! As I mentioned in last weekend’s “2000 Trees” write up of their excellent Thursday evening Forest Stage set (gig 1,336), they’d briefly darted across my musical vision in 2011, their rollicking “The Black Bird, The Dark Slope” from their “Hello Sadness” album making it on to my 2011 “Best Of” CD, but shamefully I’d let them slip away until their inclusion on the “2000 Trees” bill prompted a revisit.

(I think I may have thought that they’d actually split up, but that’s no excuse for not doing my due diligence and checking that out, but anyway…)

So, after a damn fine Martha-like (or, given their veteran status, maybe Martha are Los Campesinos!-like?) performance of effervescent but politically charged strumalong guitar indie pop at “Trees”, I gleefully booked for this performance when I heard about it. OK, it’s acoustic, but that just brings to light the quality of the songwriting, right? Plus, free CD copy of their brand new, 7^th (!) album “All Hell”… Result!

So I passed on the usual Sunday afternoon trip to my missus’ ‘rents place, heading off down a sun-kissed M4 after watching the Hungarian Grand Prix, and parking up opposite the venue just after 5.15. I’d actually done the journey on trust, as I’d not received the ordered gig ticket, although the CD was posted out in advance and arrived the day before. Happily, the doorman had me on the list of names, so in I went, milling around and meeting up with recent Bristol gig buddy Marc for a chat before vocalist Gareth led 4/7ths (or 57.14% if you prefer!) of Los Campesinos! onto the stage. “We’ve got to fuck around [and set up] a bit…”, the frontman remarked, before finishing the set-up and announcing, “OK, you can clap again now!” We then had the heads-up for this afternoon’s festivities; a number of new songs, then some oldies, before an impromptu signing sesh; “we’re going to fuck up, you’re going to find it endearing…!”

So opener “Psychic Wound” set the tone, a mellow and melancholy strumalong in this format, Gareth announcing at its’ conclusion, “[our performance] is going to be like that; only worse, as that’s one we’re good at!” “Long Throes” actually featured some nice 2 part harmonies from Gareth and his keyboardist sister Kim amidst the acerbic and biting lyricism; the darker, more introspective “To Hell In A Handjob” was preceded by a debate about stupid lyrics sounding even stupider with the house lights on and the crowd visible (as was the case this afternoon); and “Feast Of Tongues” was my favourite of the new material, some poignant “ooh ooh” harmonies from Kim leading to a slow-burn building melody.

Gareth plugged the forthcoming September SWX gig by noting someone had written “shit” next to the band’s name on the SWX billboard (“I’m from Midsomer Norton so it must have been a childhood bully!”) before heading off into more familiar (well, for the aficionados anyway) material with a banjo-picking “Glue Me”, the rather wordy lyric featuring a reference to a “Yeboah volley” (not the only obscure footy reference tonight). The subsequent short, snappy “Hate For The Island” was introduced as, “one we’ve never played before!”, the knowledgeable crowd still singing the hook back, then “For Flotsam” was a bullish and buoyant galloper (ace at “Trees” as well, that one). Gareth then thanked the fans for pushing “All Hell” to the fringes of the charts; “it’s not a very Los Campesinos! thing, but we want to chart to stick it to our haters, which IS a very Los Campesinos! thing!” before “Adult Acme Stigmata”, the new album’s final track, fittingly closed matters, Gareth and Kim then leaping offstage and emerging at the corner for signatures. I was second in, enjoying a brief conversation with Gareth about the recent election (well, they are a politically oriented band!) and finding some significant common ground in our thinking, before heading off, home about 8. Another fine – if slightly different! – Los Campesinos! performance which made me regret not keeping up with them – and I’m not likely to make that SWX show either, as September’s already looking utterly rammed for gigs – but the very fine “All Hell” at least looks to be a great jumping (back) on point!