Ivan Campo - Search for Campodia

Local four-piece Ivan Campo last night charmed a packed out crowd at The Railway pub in Preston, as their acoustic search for Campodia gathered pace.

Almost 100 people were crammed into the main bar to see the band, who look to have progressed nicely into a confident live act, stake their late New Year's claim as one of the city's premier live acts.

The band were all stood (except obviously the drummer) where they have previously played all seated, and their inoffensive melodic intricacies have been given a North West 'roughing-up' and now have sharp, meaner edges, with more intense, gritty vocals that held the audience's attention for close to an hour.

Alcohol-fuelled

Campo started off a bit rough around the edges, with timing and sound levels all slightly off - possibly due to the bands' exposure to an alcohol-fuelled atmosphere long before they were due onstage.

Any sound problems were soon chased away and despite any misgivings, and even the odd blatant cock-up, this is the most encouraging set the band have played yet.New material was readily introduced, including Darkwoman, described as the wife of Campo's own creation 'Darkman', and Ooh My Baby, in which Campo prove their musical unity as both acoustic guitars flow and play off each other - knitting and spinning an impressive web of mellifluous song, before ending with bassist and front-man singing an unaccompanied outro.

Old-favourites

Old favourites still interspersed the set list with Sweet, Sweet Music, the minute-long charge of The Gecko and Clockshopman all receiving huge applause.

The band were coaxed and cheered into an unexpected encore and impressively performed a brand new 'never-before-played' number The Knot, a cheerful, cockneyfied song reminiscent of the 40's morale-boosting war songs, with an all important sing-along chorus to see the troops safely into port Campodia.

Written by Dan Jeoffroy

Photography: Dan Jeoffroy