Recap Los Campesinos! at Turner Hall

All seven members of Welsh indie-pop charm peddlers Los Campesinos! took the stage on Friday night at Turner Hall Ballroom exactly as you might have expected—with high energy and infectious grins, creating the perfect atmosphere for some weekend revelry. There's no way people were actually going to sit at the tables set up in front of the stage. This simply was not a show for the motionless concert-goer.

A determined throng of kids physically threw themselves into the band’s giddy songs, proving that it is possible to overpower crippling iPhone addictions (at least briefly). Predictable but endearing nonetheless, "You! Me! Dancing!" inspired the night's biggest pit of jumping Los Campesinos! acolytes, who danced with their faces turned up and their brows furrowed in a concentrated howl-along.  Drawing heavily from its 2008 debut, Hold On Now, Youngster…, and a handful of tracks from We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed, Los Campesinos! cheerfully split the difference between The New Pornographers' sun-drenched harmonies and Art Brut's wry, observational sermons.

Complex, layered instrumentation—tender violin, subtle keyboards, and a wash of distorted and clean guitars—added weight and tenderness to the the band’s acerbic lyrics, only to lead straight into the brash hi-hat crashes, shouts, and glockenspiel frenzy on "My Year in Lists."

The crowning mantras of closer "Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks" were yelped from above, as singer/multi-instrumentalist Gareth Campesinos! and fellow vocalist Aleksandra Campesinos! stood triumphantly atop inverted stage monitors after a couple of band members briefly joined the crowd. Breaking down the wall between performer and spectator even further, a trio of Campesinos! eased their way from the stage to the middle of the floor for a raucous encore, inadvertently summing up the atmosphere of the evening with an open-armed invitation: "We're friends, now let's have a dance party!"

Opener Sky Larkin delivered tousled, up-tempo pop-punk propelled by angular melodies, thunderous percussion, and a fuzzy wash of guitars topped with bittersweet vocals.  After comparing Turner's cavernous main room to performing aboard the Titanic, singer Katie Harkin finally managed to cajole the audience into occupying the few rows of standing room between the stage and seats.