Los Campesinos took to the Troxy for the first night of their ‘Valentine’s 2-Night Stand’, with unique setlists, commemorative wristbands and an extra special performance in tow.
Opening for them, there was Goat Girl, this odd three piece blessed the Troxy audience with their socio-poltical post punk style. They had such a unique way of playing these slow tunes that envelop you into an atmosphere of light synths, chime-y guitar chords and and plenty of fills that were downright impressive – they all sonically were intwined by the singers impressive vocal range, singing lows that were far from the angelic highs that singer Clottie Cream was knocking out the park. Their vibrance, demeanour and uniqueness was perfect way to calmly ready the audience for what was to come.
The lights went down in Troxy as red filled the room from the backlights on stage, a short intro track played then the veteran 7-piece entered the stage to thunderous applause and cheers. Opening with the live debut of ‘The Coin-Op Guillotine’ the band wasted no time setting in stone how much these nights mean to the band their fans, exercising their prestige with an extra bass and strings section to add extra oomph to all their music played that night. Playing their newest album ‘All Hell’ in full there were plenty of other live debuts to be had making this show a proper treat for the fans, I was honestly amazed by how much music they played with a 28 song setlist, this was every die hard fans wildest dream.
The energy in the vocals from singer Gareth Paisey were unmatched, he not only gave it his all in this regard he also pumped the crowd with his interaction and sheer devotion to the music; this was only elevated by the rest of the band all chiming in for the group’s folky sounding choruses; this mixed with the upbeat indie pop made for a very fun performance.
Something I always appreciate as a punter is a band that devote themselves to playing the music completely live and organically, with a total of ten musicians on stage it was clear that no computer or backing track had any part of this night – every single instrument at this bands arsenal made for a performance that will forever stick.
The fact it took place on valentine’s day only added to this fact – the love in the air was strong with couples singing to each-other solo fans bonding with strangers over a shared love of this band, and with them going for a good few years now Los Campesinos attract and audience of varied age but definitely a shared love, with plenty of affection being shared around to people of every walk of life, and Out Of Rage can only ever be proud of bands representing and accommodating for everyone; bringing a couple hours of peace and escapism through live music.
If you have the chance to grab tickets to ever see this band I highly recommend, you may have missed a special one-off collection of shows with the ‘Valentines 2-Night Stand’ but we can comfortably assume they’ll be back for their fans in this way again sometime soon.
Words and photos: Ben Blissett
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