Live Review: Camp Cope, Chastity Belt

Chastity Belt's spacey shoegaze perfectly complements the stately but slightly rundown Thornbury Theatre. Tonight's renditions tend to be looser than on record, sometimes drifting into dissonant guitar solos. Drummer Gretchen Grimm impressively assumes lead vocals on Stuck, but the highlight is Different Now, with its extended intro and supremely relatable lyrics. 

Camp Cope dance their way onto the stage to Kesha's Tik Tok. After an Acknowledgement Of Country by singer/guitarist Georgia Maq, the band launch into How To Socialise & Make Friends and the defiant Keep Growing. 

Tonight's crowd is extremely respectful of the band and each other, with none of the macho aggression encountered at most punk shows. Even during rousing songs like Done and Lost (Season One), no one invades anyone else's personal space. This absence of pushing and shoving can't be mistaken for a lack of enthusiasm, however. Plenty of people are singing every word to songs from an album released just two weeks ago.

The band lead by example in this regard. Maq communicates passion not by flailing around the stage, but by singing every line as if it's the most important thing she could possibly say at that moment. Her voice is a powerful instrument, fluctuating fluidly between loud and soft, righteous anger and vulnerability in Stove Lighter and Anna. 

Although it's easy to focus on the content of Maq's plainspoken lyrics, Camp Cope is unmistakably a trio, with each member contributing enormously to the band's distinctive sound. Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich is an accomplished bassist, her nimble fingers picking out melodic and complex bass lines on songs like UFO Lighter. Sarah Thompson is a forceful drummer, always propelling the songs forward. 

Songs from their self-titled debut have lost none of their lustre, but it's the new songs that speak to the current cultural moment with such aching urgency. The Face Of God and The Opener, in particular, clearly resonate deeply with the audience. There is the sense that what Camp Cope is doing in Thornbury Theatre tonight really matters, which is fairly unusual for a rock band in 2018.