I can’t believe that I wrote my little monthly summary of April 2026 and missed out the major event of going up to that London to see Les Négresses Vertes! I saw LNV a few times in London back in the day, but the last time must be more than 30 years ago. I knew they had split up but I wasn’t aware they were back together again. Actually they re-formed in about 2018 but I suspect I was too pre-occupied with cancer to have noticed.

It was a bit of a stressful day. I wasn’t really in the mood, and Jayne was already regretting that she agreed to come with me. She is not a fan of going into big cities, and was put out when I told her that the show was in Camden.

The venue was not one I had been to before – the Electric Ballroom. We got in a bit after the doors opened but well before the support act were due to start. Already the place was quite full though. As might be expected, it was not a young crowd. Some 80s/90s acts get a young crowd, but not LNV.

The support act were called Carne. With a name like that I was expecting something French, but they are from Brighton. They were competent but not my sort of thing. It was like they really wanted to be Nirvana and they can play, they just didn’t put on a show. Mind you, the sound and lighting for them was noticeably worse than for the main act. One of the perks of being a headliner I guess.

When LNV hit the stage it was like being back in 1990 again, and they showed that they still have it.

They played for about 90 minutes. I was living in the moment and so not taking notes, filming or anything like that, but I think they played everything off their first album (but maybe not Le Pere Magloire?) . It was a bit of a surprise to hear Voila l’Ete very early on. I thought that was the sort of thing to hold back for an encore. There were a few tracks from later albums too. Obviously Famille Heureuse and another track or two from the second album plus a few later tracks like Hasta Llegar. Generally they stayed with the acoustic, rowdy versions rather than the club/trance versions of songs. There was no cover of Pretty Vacant this time round.

I remember in the 80s some music press critic dismissed the band as just a shouty French band. It is true that they are shouty. Also heavy on the accordian. But all in a good way. If Mano Negra were being hailed as the French Clash then I think LNV are more like the French Pogues. I was very pleased to see that the set was still full of trombone solos.

One thing you can say about LNV is they do not just play, they put on a show. No need for special effects, big screens, fireworks, lasers or anything like that; just showmanship and crowd work. Even after all these years, everybody knew when to join in.

One part I especially liked was that in a particularly rowdy part of a song everybody froze like a statue, keeping their posture, however uncomfortable it looked, The only exception being the drummer, who launched into a solo. He was in full white and blue lights while the rest of the stage was dimly lit in red, just enough to see that the rest of the band were still frozen. It is a simple thing, but very effective.

It is a shame that LNV never put out more than 4 ‘proper’ albums – plus a couple of remix LPs and a superb live album – but there is still plenty of material to fill 90 minutes, and that is without doing a couple of my favourites!

I’m not sure I will see them again. I don’t think they every include Scotland on their tours these days. Mind you, I would consider flying to Frankfurt or Cologne to see them in the future.