Credit: Luke Barnes
Live
Hippo Campus
O2 Ritz, Manchester
February 14 2019
Words: Jack McKinnell
It has been six months since Hippo Campus were in the UK, and they didn’t fail to light up the crowd that packed out the 02 Ritz on Valentine’s Day. And there was no mistaking the love you could feel in the air, and despite the Ritz being able to hold 1,500 people, there was definitely a closeness between the band and the crowd. For an indie band, starting your European tour, there is only once place you would want to start. Manchester: the home of indie rock. Hippo Campus did just that with their Bambi tour.
The Minnesotans opened with their title track 'Bambi' and as soon as that electric beat hit, the crowd started jumping. The meaning behind the song had no effect on the crowd, or band for that matter, with both dancing around to the looped synthesiser and couldn’t be controlled. There is something so satisfying about a frontman who can reach a high note whilst playing the guitar, and Jake Luppen can achieve just that.
Credit: Vicky Sludge
Despite the crowd, who was mainly made up of a teenage audience, loving the quartet as a five-piece with the inclusion of DeCarlo Jackson - for whom there was a massive reception - playing variety of instruments from the trumpet to bass. However, every time Jackson strutted to the front of the stage or held a note on his trumpet, a roar of cheers and applause came from the crowd.
The band played mainly from their newest album 'Bambi', but didn't fail to include fan favourites like 'Suicide Saturday' and 'Baseball' which really got the crowd going, so much so mosh pits starting forming in every corner of the room. Fans were also treated to some sneak peaks of unreleased songs 'Chapstick' and 'No Pomegranates'. These fresh numbers change up the conventional Hippo Campus 'style’, with Luppen taking a secondary role. On 'Chapstick', for example, drummer Whilster Allen takes on lead vocals, whilst 'Pomegrantes' sees guitarist Nathan Stocker take the limelight.
Credit: Vicky Sludge
With it being Valentine’s Day, Hippo Campus did a cover of Rex Orange County’s ‘Loving is Easy’ for their penultimate number, which naturally went down a storm. A classic indie love song, performed by an up and coming indie band. Of course, there was only one way to bring the set to a close, rocking out to perhaps their best known song, 'Buttercup’. With Luppen’s intricate opening picking, followed by a vast amount of riffs, it was the only song to play out the bouncing crowd on a February night that was definitely heart-shaped.
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