BC Camplight has been on my musical radar ever since I heard the epic that is ‘The Last Rotation of Earth’ back in 2023. With a song so sonically large detailing an imagined final day on Earth, I became immediately entralled with his apocalyptic and weird-pop style and from that moment forth kept it on the back-burner of my mind to absolutely attend if he was ever to tour nearby. After the announcement of his new 2025 album A Sober Conversation, with accompanying UK shows, the musical gods answered my prayers with a show in Cardiff.
Getting to the venue early to make sure I had a good spot in the crowd, I was pleasantly delighted to find out that British Birds were the support act. Having seen and enjoyed them a few weeks before at Cardiff’s greatest musical weekend of the year, Sŵn festival, I was happy to enter back into their garage-pop world for another half hour. With a tight rhythm section lead by dynamic dual-vocals, the Chorley-natives kept the audience alive and kicking with their lighthearted between-song jokes and enthusatic command of their instruments. They have a tinge of an interesting 60s psych-mod vibe, and as a 60s-head, it was great to see a modern, self-described ‘garage’ band who echoed those sentiments.
Now it was time for BC (real name Brian Christinzio), accompanied by (to use his own words) the best band he’s ever played with. Ripping it up with opener ‘The Tent’ from the new album, the energy on stage never waivered for the next hour and a half of back-to-back melodic greatness. With a well-constructed set list which peaked and dipped at just the right moments, I would argue that the live versions of the songs were equally as good, if not better, than the studio versions.
The contrast between BC Camplight’s extensive and genre-spanning vocal range (from lengthy falsetto belts to gravelly heavy metal grunts) and Jessica Bon Bon’s lilting vocal responses, resulted in a dulcet and mighty power that hit the audience with a force. Breezing through fan favourites such as ‘I’m Desperate’ and ‘Kicking Up A Fuss’ with upmost effortlessness and presence, the band never faltered. The natural fingerstyle of Thom Bellini on bass and the clean groove of Adam Dawson on drums established a rhythm section that was smooth as hot butter, supported by the sonic articulations from both Jolan Lewis and James Davis, who respectively floated between various instruments to produce a composed and finalised richness.
After the announcement of a venue swap for the gig from the Tramshed to the more intimate The Globe (whose own tagline literally is ‘Getting you close to the action’), as someone who lives a stones throw away from The Globe, I was particulary elated that BC Camplight himself will be parking his (as he kept referring to it during the show) HUGE tour bus right outside some of my local haunts. With his tour bus truly bigger than the venue itself, The Globe provided the perfect setting for getting upclose and personal to the artists, which felt very fitting for a BC Camplight show, as though his on-stage witty persona is largely comical, it never strayed from feeling personal and honest. As he divulged in his struggles with substance abuse, breakups, and loneliness, which are evidently clear in his lyrics, he remained both introspective and positive (even if he did finish a medium bottle of Jack Daniels during the set).
When the band left the stage halfway through the set to give him brief space to ask for a solo audience song request, he handled the room with grace and humour. Coming together again to complete the set with songs like ‘Two Legged Dog’ and ‘She’s Gone Cold’, the show came to an end for a final encore of my personal favourite, ‘The Last Rotation of Earth’, before closing with the title track from the new release ‘A Sober Conversation’. When it was all over, I truly wished it had never ended. All in all, BC Camplight is fundamentally an entertaining showman, it’s just a major bonus that his songs translate so well in a live setting.
If you can get to any of the remaining shows on the tour, I would highly urge you to. His live set is a masterclass in musicianship which needs to be seen in person to be truly understood. Thank you BC Camplight for your long-standing service to modern music.
Tickets for all remaining shows can be found here.
BC Camplight: Website / Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp
Review and photography by Avalon Vowles
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