★★★★

BRISTOL’S Blue Aeroplanes established themselves as one of the greatest indie guitar bands of the 1990s with a pair of brilliant albums – Swagger and Beatsongs – that showcased a band equal to influences such as Television and REM.

Fronted by the beat poet Gerard Langley, driven by the drumming of his brother John and animated by the original Bezstyle dancer Wojtek Dmochowski, The Blue Aeroplanes were a much artier outfit than their contemporaries and the power of their guitar orchestra is still a unique experience.

These three figures have been the backbone of the band for 35 years, while the rest of its personnel have rotated “like a football squad”, as Langley said. Live, Wojtek’s dance movements are a joyous spectacle. “This is not an exercise in nostalgia,” Langley said as the band rocked to the end of their current single Dead Tree! Dead Tree! “But it is exercise,” Wojtek added. “Ah, he’s just trying to sell his workout DVD,” Langley quipped in response.

The band’s new album Welcome, Stranger approaches the heights of their heyday, but it was still songs from their classic records, such as Jacket Hangs, that showed how majestically the Aeroplanes can rise into the musical stratosphere. It was a privilege to see them in full flight.