Twenty years ago, the UK music scene was first introduced to Los Campesinos! - a band of youths coming out of the dormitories of Cardiff University with their own unique brand of twee indie. Two decades, seven albums, and well over 500 shows across the world later, ‘the UK’s first and only emo band’ have come back to Nottingham for the fourth time...
Arriving at the outside area of Rescue Rooms, you can certainly see an even spread of young and old - newcomers and veterans. Speaking to lead singer and lyricist Gareth Paisey after the fact, he corroborated this, saying that social media sites such as Discord and TikTok have given LOS CAMPESINOS! a second life “despite the fact that we never really went away.”
For a band founded in 2006, it was amazing to see such a wide spanning demographic all come together. There is also a sense of humour that comes across with a fanbase like theirs as, despite their music having a heavy tinge of emotional subject matter, there is a sense of sardonic irony that is mirrored by those who commit themselves completely to the ‘king of bands’. In one particular case, a group of people had brought a lobster hat and cutouts of one of their comrades which were waved around throughout the gig to the amusement of those around them.
Inside the concert venue, you could see a sort of gradient of ages with the older fans who have followed the band since their gigs at the Clwb Ifor Bach or Howard Gardens letting these young fans who had never seen the band before get closer to the stage, and to the action. The crowd was very much akin to the sort of person that breathed new life into this band around 2020. I looked around and recognized the hallmarks of the people that introduced me to LOS CAMPESINOS!: the side fringes, drawn on Converses, fingerless gloves with bedazzled wristbands, stick and poke tattoos and tattered band tees from every single era of this band imaginable.
Support band Other Half (photo above) were absolutely blistering, with their discordant rhythms and fury. If you want a picture of what Thurston Moore would have been doing if he came up in the Internet Age then check out Other Half: their unique brand of dissonant, angry, emotionally charged music was absolutely captivating and caught the crowd in their frenzy.
Silence surrounded the venue as the lights went down to a blue glow, as a brooding orchestra and speech as the band walked out to a room of screaming fans. Afterwards, Gareth said that the fans especially give him a “constant sort of joy", and it is easy to see why. Throughout the show, it felt like there was surround sound as every single person in the 450-person space knew every single word.
Personally, I got into the band with a constant diet of the first three records, and so to hear them starting with the relatively underrated This is how you spell “HAHAHA…" was a genuinely life-affirming moment. One way to describe the music of LOS CAMPESINOS! is a steady mix of bliss and somber nostalgia, and this came through instantly. The feeling of watching this show was like looking back on videos on a cousin’s camcorder. Every song on the set seemed to flow perfectly; despite the fact that there were songs next to each other that were written a decade or more apart, they all seemed perfectly in sync. According to Gareth, they rehearsed about 45 songs for this tour and were surprised about the positive reappraisal to certain tracks.
“The reaction that surprised me the most was Songs about your girlfriend... We played that on the Hello Sadness tour and it just [fell to the wayside]... it’s now one of the songs that gets the biggest reactions," he told me.
A highlight was the one-two combo of Knee Deep at ATP and My Year in Lists, with Knee Deep...’s symphonic structure alongside ...Lists’ quick burst of excitement, it brought the crowd into a rabid frenzy. It was amazing to see those two songs back to back, keeping everyone in a moment of dance before smacking them upside the head with two of their most harrowing tracks To Tundra and The Sea is a Good Place…
Every member of LOS CAMPESINOS! played to absolute perfection, a cacophony of energy and hope that filled out the venue like oxygen - unseen but certainly there. They seemed to fly through the 25-song setlist, but they did not rush; there was clear care in every note played; and it was absolutely beautiful to watch in person. The most beautiful moment to witness, however, was the entire room screaming along to the incredibly visceral song The Sea is a Good Place to Think of the Future, a song which really highlighted Gareth's songwriting prowess.
Speaking to him, he highlighted that his best bit of songwriting advice was “to do the opposite of that I do," and that he writes lyrics “because [he] has to." In a way, you can see that. The way these songs are written lyrically is clearly from a place deeper than most. There isn’t any hint of flowery language or convention; they are brutally honest statements that just happen to rhyme. This honesty, in the lyrics and the band’s own beliefs, is what made this show so magical.
When you see LOS CAMPESINOS!, it doesn’t feel like you’re watching a performance, per se. When Gareth went deep into the crowd at the encore finisher “Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks” , you could see that constant state of joy that he spoke to me about.
I am in the songs
LOS CAMPESINOS! are legends of the scene, and it is clear that despite them being one-fifth of a century old as of 2026, there is no slowing down. In fact, the energy has only seemed to climb and climb. LOS CAMPESINOS! are a band that deserve every bit of attention they have gotten - and more. This live show was absolutely killer, and the only negative was that it had to end. They are the sort of band that could play a 3 or 4 hour show and it still wouldn’t drag. The best shows, to me, have a mix of two factors: obsession from the fans and dedication from the band, and LOS CAMPESINOS! have this in spades. Be warned, however, as going to a concert like this does count as a two-hour bout of exercise - it is certain you will be jumping.
In response to me asking him if he had any advice to young musicians who want to get started in music, Gareth told me, "Do it for the right reasons… and start a band, I'm sick of solo acts [laughs]... you will never beat the feeling of playing music with friends.”
Los Campesinos! performed at Rescue Rooms on 31st May 2026 with support from Other Half
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