BC Camplight / Personal Trainer @ Exeter Phoenix, Tuesday November 21st 2023

 

Back at Exeter Phoenix for the second time in a couple of months, this time for a dose of BC Camplight (aka Brian Christinzio) who I last saw waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 2007. Who knew then what a ‘shitshow’ (his words) the next 16 years would turn out to be for him but with a quadrilogy of critically acclaimed albums under his belt I had high hopes for this evening’s gig.   

BC (that’s Before Camplight) though Personal Trainer put us through our paces with a set that scaled the heights of Polyphonic Spree at their soul lifting best (see set opener Big Love Blanket) and got the booty shaking courtesy of the LCD Soundsystem-ish Rug Busters. 

In a world increasingly stuffed full of AI generated pop trash and wannabe gangsta grime shite it’s refreshing to see a band (all 8 of ‘em too) that can really cut it live.

Speaking of cutting things live, just one song into his set and Brian’s keyboard’s a bloody mess (the result of an ill-advised attempt to spin a glitter ball like a basketball backstage, not realising that glass is a tad sharper than rubber) and his mic stand’s collapsed. With no one rushing to his aid an audience member steps up to hold the mic for the second song after Brian ruefully acknowledges that this is typical for a BC Camplight show. 

It takes more than a bloody finger and knackered mic stand to keep a good man down though and, with his digit clotting rapidly and a new stand rampant we spent the next hour and a half in the company of a performer who’s weathered more storms than most and come out with s series of classic albums to prove it. Unsurprisingly a number of cuts from current album The Last Rotation Of Earth (a top 40 hit as Brian reminded us several times) get an airing, including I’m Ugly, tonight bringing to mind Robert Wyatt at his fragile best. You Should’ve Gone To School (from 2015’s comeback album ‘How To Die In The North) was another highlight and possibly Brian’s poppiest and most upbeat moment since his great lost track Lord, I’ve Been On Fire which he doesn’t seem to play these days. Shame! Pop it back in the set Bri. 

With a top-notch band behind him and some great one liners, one addressed to a heckler, “Two rules sir…don’t talk to me during the show…or after it” and “Anyone been in a mental home?”, the whole set was a delight from start to finish and possibly not since Billy Joel in his 70s prime (hey, don't knock the Piano Man) has the piano been used to such fine effect. Addiction, mental illness and heartbreak may have fuelled Brian’s muse over the past 18 years or so but judging by tonight’s sold out show hopefully there’s (camp)light at the end of the tunnel for Brian now.