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The rain poured all morning in anticipation on Tuesday,
November 3rd, turning London's recent clear autumn skies to a muddy grey and
making the mood, well, suitably Maudlin
for Camera Obscura to play out their Career (as a dreamy indie pop group with a little ‘60s
bombast) to the Shepherd's Bush Empire clientele. The atmosphere seemed destined to remain slightly
melancholy, the charming colours from the comprehensive seven-strong band bleeding
into a kind of comforting but ultimately placid walkthrough their latest
release (QRO review).
"Tears For Affairs" surprisingly broke the band free of this mould,
allowing the horns and harmonies to breathe out a bit more with the song's
slower pace, and letting singer/guitarist Tracyanne Campbell's vocals to ring out with more conviction.
 And it was songs from previous long-player Let's Get
Out of This Country that brought out the
biggest response, most notably the crowd's collective sigh of satisfaction that
resulted from hearing the opening string melody from "Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be
Heartbroken" as the band's main set closer, after they had played a string of
other standouts from that album.
In terms of the recent singles, "French Navy" was the other real winner
here, the opening sharp chord stabs clearing away the consistent gauzy guitar
haze of "The Sweetest Thing" and "My Maudlin Career". Older material was also given an airing, although "Keep It
Clean" and "Eighties Fan" didn't seem to be built for filling the larger venues
that the band can now inhabit.
It was only fair then, that as the band returned for a short
encore to bring the U.K. tour to an end, they used the slow burn of Let's
Get Out's "Razzle Dazzle Rose" to have the
crowd contentedly swaying along towards a rapturous farewell, and you know
what? It wasn't raining when everyone left, and it all seemed a little bit
brighter.
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Click here for photos from this show in the QRO Concert Photo Gallery
Fueled with Voodoo Doughnuts, Alcoholic Faith Mission
delivered to a rockin' crowd in Portland.
Those lucky enough to
enter the House of Blues Boston took a spacey journey
that felt like one long dream starting with opening act I Break Horses.
The student-filled O2 Academy in Manchester started heaving
forward the instant the visual art showed "The Cribs" on the backdrop.
