Live Review: Los Campesinos at First Avenue
The Wales septet Los Campesinos! finally made its way to First Ave on Saturday night after having their US tour involuntarily postponed by ash from the Iceland volcano. Frontman, Gareth Campesinos shrugged off the delay, stating only, “Because of the volcano, we’ve had less time to get drunk.”
Up-and-comers Cymbals Eat Guitars provided a strong opening act, playing through much of their buzzed-about debut album Why There are Mountains. At the pace they’re going, you can probably expect to see them headlining the mainroom before too long.
While the show was sparsely attended, with the floor at less than half-capacity, this didn’t dampen the mood. Los Campesinos! played an excited set which paused only once, to deal with a broken amp. This gave the band the chance to get in their obligatory Purple Rain / Prince shout-out. “This is probably old hat for you. You probably hear this every time a British band comes to town, but we were genuinely convinced Prince might show up. So much so, we even brought a bike stand.”
Those who stuck around for the encore were rewarded with a little flesh time as Gareth jumped off the stage and made his way to the back bar where he sang the ultimate song with crowd members holding the mic chord over their heads. As he made his way back up to the front, he was joined on the floor by Neil and Tom Campesinos with instruments in hand for a jam session on the floor. For those who were there, it was an experience they won’t soon forget.
-Words by JH, Videos by Josh Keller
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