Reviewed by James Lavender

Summer Camp are well known for their 80s influenced indie pop, which seems to be made for high-school movies of the John Hughes variety. In fact, one of their successes last year was creating the soundtrack for a documentary celebrating the genre called ‘Beyond Clueless’. So naturally, when Summer Camp came on the stage at The Bodega, lead singer Elizabeth Sankey looked every inch the high-school star.

Songs such as ‘Life’ and ‘Fresh’ are full of vitality and get the audience going with their best indie-shuffles. Apart from a technical glitch in the background, Elizabeth and Jeremy, who are partners in marriage as well as in the band, powered through the songs whilst laughing and joking with the audience. They are ever the professionals.

Their sound is very much influenced by 80s synthpop and new wave, with many of the songs taking influence from the high school movies of that era. Just listen to ‘Fresh’ with its lyrical references to Pretty in Pink. Midway through the concert, Sarkey and Warmsley performed songs from the soundtrack to the film Beyond Clueless, which included title track. Further highlights include material from their debut album ‘Welcome To Condale’, namely the bouncy ‘Ghost Town’ with its repeating catchy chorus. In contrast to their lighter songs, heavier tracks such as “I want you” show there is great depth to their work.

On that Sunday night at Bodega, Summer Camp brought their world of indie synthpop and Breakfast Club viewings to Nottingham and it went down a treat.

Support was provided by Willie J Healey. His stagecraft has definitely come on since his performance supporting Francisco the man back in august. Showcasing some new songs, he is certainly someone to keep an eye on.

4 out of 5