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Los Campesinos! | ME REX
New Century Hall, Manchester
22nd September 2024
Indie-pop royalty Los Campesinos! bring their Mortal Joy tour to Manchester’s New Century Hall, their biggest headline show outside of London. Louder Than War’s Dave Beech was there to review.
When Gareth David, frontman of seven-piece peddlers of upbeat miserabilia Los Campesinos!, wrote the lyrics to Renato Dall’Ara (2008) seven or eight years ago, the chances are he didn’t have any idea of what lay in store for the band following the release of their next album.
A semi-self-referential, tongue-in-cheek allegory about the band’s technicolour 2008 heyday, the lyric “once up and back down again” may once have felt prophetic to the septet. Things, however, change. Not least in the seven years, it’s been between Los Campesinos! releases. As we walk into the impressive surroundings of Manchester’s New Century Hall, it’s clear that whatever grains of truth could be found beneath the humour of David’s lyricism, they no longer apply here.
Los Campesinos!, it seems, are enjoying something of a resurgence.
Of course, for those of us who’ve followed the band since the rough and ready early days, they never went away. Despite the fact (or perhaps because of the fact) they haven’t been in Manchester for almost a decade, there’s a sense of occasion, and of expectation, exuding from tonight’s crowd.
Before LC! However, there’s the small matter of the London/Brighton trio ME REX to attend to. We say small, as the band look positively dwarfed by the venue’s lofty stage. That changes the moment their opening notes ring out above a growing crowd. Harbouring elements of bands such as Tilly and the Wall, Zoloft and the Rock and Roll Destroyer, and We Were Promised Jetpacks, the band’s DIY energy is nothing short of contagious, and they take little time to win us over.
Though it’s a short and sweet set, tracks such as Infinity Worm and Robotswalkonwater (the floor is made of lava), provide the perfect introduction to the band, who manage to veer between stadium-sized indie rock, and bedroom-crafted twee-pop, almost in an instant. It’s charming and refreshing, and we make a note to dig deeper into Me Rex’s sci-fi-fuelled back catalogue further.
Having eschewed the merch desk on arrival, we head there now. Unfortunately, however, so does everyone else. With little else to do but wait for the headliners, we join the back of a queue that snakes from the venue’s entrance, right down to the barrier, and back again. Indeed, such is the length of queue, that we don’t even make it to the end before Los Campesinos! erupt onto the stage with the recent single A Psychic Wound, immediately whipping the capacity crowd in front of them into a joyous cocktail of singing, dancing and sweating. I Broke Up in Amarante follows. A breathless transition that sets a breakneck pace for the evening. It matters not to the baying crowd. Fuelled on a cocktail of craft beer and anti-depressants they sing back every word David belts out.
Traditional closer Avocado, Baby gets a surprisingly early outing, quickly followed up by the evening’s second taste of new material in the form of Holy Smoke (2005). Not that you could tell. It fits effortlessly in between established material and the crowd once again singing every word. It’s a testament to the devotion of Los Campesinos!’ fans that material from an album released two months ago already feels like it’s long been part of the canon. Proof of the fact comes with Feast of Tongues, a deliciously left-wing anthem, in which tonight’s crowd almost drowns the band out during the chorus.
Elsewhere, earlier offerings Knee Deep at ATP and My Year in Lists provide a double-header of debut album material that harbours the effervescent E-number-esque energy of youth, once again turning the sea of bodies filling the room into a heaving mass of flailing limbs and full voices.
From here, it’s clear we’re heading towards the evening’s conclusion, and the breakneck pace is steadied somewhat with the likes of I Just Sighed. I Just Sighed, Just So You Know, and the sprawling and ever-excellent The Sea Is A Good Place to Think of the Future. 0898 Heartache closes out the main set proper. It’s a sense of despondent optimism condensing Los Campesinos! down to their very essence in just five minutes.
Tequila shots on stage kick the encore off. Hello Sadness is received as one might expect, with every word sang back to the stage in unison. Whilst a poignant outing for You! Me! Dancing! is dedicated to Eden Young, a prominent member of Manchester’s music scene who lost her life last year. Poignant it may be. But that doesn’t stop it from threatening to tear the roof off the venue, its steady build-up and eventual release both joyous and cathartic in equal parts.
Most bands would have left things there, but a final number in the form of Baby I’ve Got the Death Rattle brings the night to its close. And as the band take their leave, and the houselights come on, we’re left blinking into the brightness, hoping and praying it’s not another seven years before Los Campesinos! grace a Manchester stage again.
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Dave Beech is a music writer based out of Manchester. Links to his work can be found over at his blog, Life’s A Beech, as well as his Louder Than War Author Archive. He also tweets as @Dave__Beech
All photos by Adam Edwards. You can find Adam at his website | Instagram and Facebook
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