The second day of a new mini music festival in the heart of Cardiff, Celebrate This Place, boasted the triple threat of Los Bitchos, Dream Wife and Psychedelic Porn Crumpets at the top of the bill last Saturday in the Tramshed.
Los Bitchos inform us they’re sadly without their keyboardist and experiencing slight technical difficulties, but still crank out a satisfying platter of South American-flavoured party jams. Inspired by the Afro-European folk dance traditions of cumbia, originating in Columbia, the London band have carved out a niche for themselves with mostly instrumental, psychedelic surf-rock, and seem very happy occupying it. Serra Patale barely contains herself while shredding on lead guitar, from enthusiastic nodding to near-splits to wide, sunny grins, sometimes joining drummer Nic Crawshaw on percussion, who equally parties up a storm at the back of the Tramshed stage.
Things take a moodier, edgier turn when Dream Wife arrive. Speaking to the band last month, my expectations were high for a show that prioritised the experiences of women and marginalised folk on the live music scene. Despite the festival environment perhaps not catering to their ideal crowd, the trio (plus honorary Dream Husband on drums), are the most interactive of the three main Celebrate This Placeacts on day two: lead singer Rakel Mjoll commanding the audience with flashes of Regina George meets riot grrrl energy, all sideways smiles, dynamic poses and dramatic pouts.
Much like the self-effacing lyrics of songs like Hot (Don’t Date A Musician), Dream Wife aren’t afraid of a bit of clownery: Mjoll becomes the referee at one point for bandmates Alice Go and Bella Podpadec to duel it out Street Fighter-style during an instrumental break. She’s also highly conscious and inclusive of her audience, maintaining an almost predatory level of eye contact (the ‘eat you alive’ kind, not anything untoward). Her vocal range also carries through from studio to stage, sharpshooting call and response lines with an infectiously empowering confidence: “I. Am. Not. My. Body. I. Am. Some-body.” Altogether, the trio’s stage presence is as flirtatious as it is commanding – the ‘step on me, mommy’ energy every Gen Z-appealing, gender-diverse punk group needs in 2023.
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, topping the Celebrate This Place lineup for Saturday, barely even glance at the crowd during their set – aside from some quips about enjoying a Toby Carvery for the first time, starting a “Toby! Toby!” chant. But the buzz around Tramshed, before they’re anywhere near the stage, indicates they needn’t have even done that. The hardcore Aussie psych rockers enter to Pavarotti’s Nessun Dorma and receive a hero’s welcome in return. “I’ve waited years to see this band,” I overhear from a fan. Another, arms raised, eyes closed, as if in worship, merely screams in a heavy south Walian brogue: “I LOVES CRUMPETS, I DO!” I soon lose him in the pit, as he does himself, I suspect.
Scarcely a note is played by the Crumpets before a writhing mass of limbs and bucket hats whirlpools, beer spraying overhead like liquid confetti. The five-piece spend the next hour keeping this energy well-fed; building and maintaining a wall of sound that feels vast, heavy and monolithic on the surface, but intricate, overlapping and interlocking melodies on closer inspection reveal its more of a tidal tapestry than impenetrable wall. My ears are still ringing the next day. Now, if only their band name was as good as the way they play live…
Celebrate This Place: Los Bitchos, Dream Wife + Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Tramshed, Cardiff, Sat 20 May
words HANNAH COLLINS photos JAMIE CHAPMAN
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