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REVIEW: Los Bitchos bring Latin fever to True North

Los Bitchos rocked the Lemon Tree with Latin style grooves, kicking off this year's True North festival. Picture by Paul Glendell.
Los Bitchos rocked the Lemon Tree with Latin style grooves, kicking off this year's True North festival. Picture by Paul Glendell.

London-based, pan-continental four-piece Los Bitchos exuded all of their Latin-infused guitar cool in style at The Lemon Tree last night.

They kicked off this year’s True North festival, which continues in various venues across Aberdeen over the remainder of the weekend, along with local act AiiTee who performed at The Wonder Hoose.

Augustina Ruiz (synths) and Serra Petale (guitar) deep into a salsa-style drum interlude. Picture by Paul Glendell

In a performance full of danceable numbers and smile-inducing melodies, Los Bitchos showed how instrumental music (without vocals) is sometimes all you really need to have a good time.

Their coherence was palpable; they had visible fun on stage regularly sharing smiles with one another throughout their set.

And though the Aberdeen crowd may have been a little party shy, that didn’t stop the band from having a great time.

Kicking off with a bang

Stellar support on the night came from Aberdeen rockers Connor Clark and the Matador Kings as well as the hotly tipped Glasgow outfit, Medicine Cabinet.

Clark and his Kings were full of grit, showing a nice variety of fuzzy, distortion-laden tunes to the crowd that gradually filled up as their set went on.

The following act, Medicine Cabinet, have been backed by Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos as an exciting new prospect – it was easy to see why when they took to the Lemon Tree stage.

Clad in sporty attire, their material channelled the punk/pop sensibilities of Blondie and the confident theatrics of Madonna from lead vocalist Anna Acquroff.

Their performance of the catchy new single Factor 50 was superb, as too was their versatility, switching instruments between tracks seamlessly.

A band with a bright future? It certainly seems so.

Los Bitchos

Kapranos’ influence on the night didn’t stop at the support act, however.

He also produced Los Bitchos’ recently released debut album, Let the Festivities Begin!, which has gained widespread appeal across the UK and beyond.

Los Bitchos at the Lemon Tree. Picture by Paul Glendell

Taking to the stage, a scream from guitarist Sara Petale pricked the ears of the crowd before the band fired into various hits from their new album.

Citing Eddie Van Halen and the Cocteau Twins as seemingly contrasting influences, Los Bitchos have wrapped these artists up into a concoction mixed with a good dash of tequila-flavoured Latin optimism to form their own music.

Serra Petale mid-solo. Picture by Paul Glendell

Bright tones flew off the strings of their guitars; at times Tarantino-like with psych and surf twinges and others more Cumbia (Colombian style salsa music).

Synth interludes from Augustina Ruiz offered nice electronic variety, but at the core of the set lay one thing: the urge to party.

Dancing shoes

Los Bitchos are revered for their energetic live performances.

Their entire catalogue is packed to the brim with grooves and it’s nigh on impossible to not find your toe tapping along to their drum beats.

Josefine Jonsson (bass) delivered all of the danceable grooves. Picture by Paul Glendell

Favourite tracks like Las Panteras caused the crowd to erupt. Others like Pista (Fresh Start) brought an air of psychedelia while FFS brought the Turkish musical influences of guitarist Petale to the fore.

The jumping on stage matched that out on the floor towards the latter stages of the set as the crowd sunk more into the party feel.

But overall, it’s hard to think of another night where the Lemon Tree will have welcomed as musically diverse an act as what it did last night.

True North meets South America

Positive energy exuded on stage from Los Bitchos. Picture by Paul Glendell

Winding up the evening with a lively rock ‘n roll version of The Champs’ tune Tequila, Los Bitchos stamped their continental character onto the Lemon Tree stage.

The band were phenomenal. They didn’t put a foot wrong and never took themselves too seriously, radiating their fun-loving energy from the first minute to the last.

It’s a shame the venue wasn’t packed to the brim. Nonetheless, here’s hoping they went for a celebratory tequila afterwards – they certainly deserved it.

For more information on True North go to aberdeenperformingarts.com


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