Alive 2008: Los Campesinos!

A concert review...
Los Campesinos! with Parenthetical Girls (and Abe Vigoda, sorta)
The Troubadour, Saturday, June 7, 2008

The last time I went to the Troubadour, it was to see Robyn, for which there were no opening acts, so I was surprised when we got there an hour late and the bartender informed us that we'd already missed Abe Vigoda and that another opener was setting up. I was a little bummed about Abe Vigoda, but they're local, so hopefully they'll show up at another show before I leave L.A.--annoyingly they appear to be opening for Times New Viking at their Monday show at the Smell but not at the one I'm going to Sunday at the Echo. Regardless, Los Camp's other opener more than made up for it.

Parenthetical Girls opened with lead singer Zac Pennington banging drumsticks on every hard surface within microphone wire range and wandering dreamily through the disoriented crowd as he sang his melodramatic heart out. I was sold before they even announced who they were ("Hey, I've heard of them!"), and they put on a terrific set. Even if his vocals are occasionally questionable, Pennington is a born performer, his dry wit dominating the set as much as the pretty music. The band did a lot to keep the seemingly indifferent audience on their toes: audience cruising was regular, they played musical chairs with their instruments throughout, and they gave away a single Go Girl low-cal energy drink to a guy at the front before bantering about its toxic additives, remaining ironically ambiguous about whether they were hawking or mocking the product--either way, it was funny.

When Los Campesinos! came out, Parenthetical Girls remained in the front row, leaping up and down through their best songs and often pulling the lead Campesinos! down from the stage and cheering him on. It added a nice element to a set that might otherwise have lacked spontaneity, given a seven member band and a one-man stage. They were, naturally, full of angst and energy, and they sounded great live, but it was disappointing not to be able to hear the lyrics very clearly--it's one of their best selling points and something that helps distinguish many of their similar sounding songs from each other. The audience did not seem overly familiar with their material--with the introduction to "We Are All Accelerated Readers" only garnering one cheer... from me--but they were enthusiastic nonetheless; Los Campesinos! seemed to be both excited and intimidated by the full theater. It was a good set, but I suspect they'll improve it with time and more material.

7/10

Also: the Troubadour is very professional and the design is good, but if you're tall and used to standing in the back, watch out for shows this crowded. If you end up behind the balcony overhang by the bar, you've gone too far, and there's a major drop in the sound.
I didn't take pictures, but it was something like this.