Reading 2012: Los Campesinos, Main Stage

That a band who can hardly have claimed to have racked up the radio support, who rarely if ever grace the covers of magazines but, understandably, are close to the heart of so many are opening the main stage of a festival like Reading should be a cause for celebration. Los Campesinos may be able to refer people to ‘the song off the telly’ (‘You! Me! Dancing! and it’s flirtation with a certain brand of bottled beer), but today certainly feels quite important.

It’s no easy task they face, either. Just minutes before taking to the stage a broadcast of Green Day’s surprise set has been cut off - half way through ‘Basket Case’ no less - leaving a field full of angry hangovers less than impressed. There’s booing. Tellingly, it doesn’t last for long.

There’s something brilliantly affirming about Los Campesinos - they write songs that combine smart lyrics with smart melodies. They may joke about filling a slot previously held by such luminaries as Do Me Bad Things, but this isn’t some fresh hype band working off an expensively promoted debut album - this is a gang who already have an enviable back catalogue behind them. From recent single ‘Songs About Your Girlfriend’ through to second is-it-an-album-or-isn’t-it title track ‘We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed’, today Los Camp are rock stars. They wear it well.