Los Campesinos! get sweaty on the Dr. Martens #STANDFORSOMETHING Tour

When local heroes Johnny Foreigner hit the stage, the audience is already crammed tightly into the room, standing on their tiptoes and hoping to catch a better view of the four-piece. As the heat slowly begins to rise and frontman Alexei Berrow steps out into the crowd for their first offering ‘You Can Do Better’, the venue - one of the band’s favourite smaller haunts - takes just one song to burst into life, while the air sizzles with energy. Singalongs are already in full swing, and the quartet’s scrappy punk is glorious; and they’re not even the headliners: there’s still more chaos (and dancing) to come.

By the time that Los Campesinos! take over the stage, there’s sweat dripping from the ceiling. The audience underneath, however, couldn’t care less. They’re more concerned with screaming along with each and every lyric to come from Gareth Campesinos’ mouth. The temperature of the room is as hot as the sun (even peoples’ glasses are steaming up, for goodness’ sake) but there’s little that’s going to slow the Cardiff band down tonight.

Bounding through cuts from all five of their albums, there are plenty of goose-bump moments to choose from: the soaring pop sensibilities, the crowd mimicking the piano intro of ‘By Your Hand’, Gareth engulfed by his adoring crowd, or even just the last few lines of ‘You! Me! Dancing!’ being sung by everyone from the front to the back of the venue.

Their set length, which clocks in at around about 95 minutes by the time the final line has been called out, is incredible and, despite joking that they can barely remember how to play a handful of songs, there’s no messing about this evening. It’s intense, it’s sweaty, but most importantly it’s fun. There’s not much more to wish for on a Saturday night.

The UK Dr. Martens #STANDFORSOMETHING tour in association with DIY continues on to:

NOVEMBER
28 Don Broco + Lonely The Brave: The Black Heart, London

DECEMBER
01 Tonight Alive: Warehouse 34, Newcastle

Tags: News, Los Campesinos!