The small but dedicated crowd gathered at Hawthorne Theatre left happy and hoarse from Los Campesinos!' most recent Portland visit. Sure, it was a night supposedly dedicated to guacamole and recession-priced tequila specials, but it was a band founded in Wales that charmed the pants off Portland.
L.A.-based The Signals ushered in the night with a fair amount of screaming. “Those dots on the guitar are to help you play,” the guitarist explained between songs. “But on that last one I think I was doing it wrong.” And they say youth has nothing to offer the world! To be fair, this was only their second night with LC!, and I’m sure when I get to open for them I’ll need to get fairly trashed as well. Thankfully the Hawthorne Theatre is built on boys screaming raucously, and the under 21 crowd welcomed them lovingly. So I won’t say too much against Signals; a fleeting thought reminded me that at one point, Green Day was just three drunk assholes doing exactly what they wanted. Now it’s 2010, the bass has been replaced with a mac, which is programmed with beats to sound a little like the Postal Service took a semester’s worth of adderall at once. Might be a little jittery, but you still get a lot done!
It would seem (on paper/internets) that Los Camps is still fairly new on the scene. Their second official album dropped earlier this year, and this Portland show was a few days shy of marking the fourth anniversary of their first live show at their student union club. But fans worldwide (and at the show) know that time does funny things. I would have sworn these guys have been around forever; Gareth’s delightfully painful lyrics compete with Sir Oberst for a spot on my bloody heart. How, in less than four years, did I listen to “You! Me! Dancing!” a few thousand times?
And so it was with a slight bias I watched LC! crank out a great set and mix old songs with the new. Though I gave Romance Is Boring a "borrow it" review I can say, when played live, these songs grow legs, buy boots and start walking. “The Sea is a Good Place to Think of the Future,” “This is a Flag. There is no Wind,” and the title track were particularly strong. As a touring band, the majority of the eight campesinos were fluid in their instruments and roles. Kim, with her leotard and denim skirt, consulted her heart-shaped notebook briefly while taking shifts on flute, moog, and backing vocals. Gareth wore his Pooh bear shirt and beat the living hell out of a cowbell without any semblance of irony, which is impressive in this day and age.
Of course I could go on about how when they played “You! Me! Dancing!” I was helpless to fight the sheepish grin and memories trying to dance along. So I closed my eyes and sang along. I remembered where I’d first fallen in love with the song (the empty house I’d just bought) and drank in the live version with everyone on-stage singing the chorus. Me and them, reliving a memory while making a new one. And of course, dancing.
