Los Campesinos! @ Koko

If this were a conventional review of a conventional band, we’d probably open by telling you that Los Campesinos! are in the ascendancy. After all, they’re touring off the back of a remarkable new LP that has proved there’s more to these eight hyperactive scamps than a penchant for exclamation marks.

We might go on to tell you how, as this show proved, they are now big enough and talented enough to pack a venue like Koko to the rafters with adoring fans – and they can do so because of the outstanding quality and confidence of songs like ‘Straight In At 101’ and ‘You! Me! Dancing!’

As a sidebar, we’d probably make a bold statement about how the night’s performance of ‘The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future’ proved that Gareth Campesinos! deserves as many plaudits for lyricism as Alex Turner. If that wasn’t enough, we’d also recount how Gareth announced that he wants the NME Award for ‘Best Blog’ from Thom Yorke who, incidentally, has five working days to get it to him.

If this were a conventional review of a conventional band, dear reader, we would have done all this. But then Los Campesinos! aren’t really a conventional band, so why waste words?

All you need to know is that in the space of one show, played at a frankly breakneck speed, Los Campesinos! demonstrated that they are easily the equal of any band currently on the circuit. This was a confident, witty, accomplished performance by talented youngsters who can already expect a strong standing on endless critics’ end of year lists.