Fortuna Pop 15 ft The Primitives – The Scala, London, 01/11/11

The Stone Roses’ reformation may have grafted the great indie comeback – initiated by Blur and qualified by Pulp – onto the hearts of nostalgic thirtysomethings who, despite finally getting to grips with Soundcloud, feel their 90’s expertise is redundant in the eyes of the blogs, but for Fortuna Pop the love affair with jangly guitar pop had never disappeared.

Tonight the indie label celebrates its fifteenth birthday, with the first of three consecutive night shows at Kings Cross’ Scala, which marries something old, new, borrowed and blue, from across its back catalogue.

Norwich’s Bearsuit are the new. Since reaching number four in John Peel’s Festive Fifty ten years ago, the five piece have kept invigorating sprightly indie-pop. They ditched the flutes and strings before it became the hipster mainstay and adopted dirty synth groove when its hype had passed. Tonight proves it was the right move as they remain an aggressively punchy twee troupe residing in Peel’s mythology. ‘When Will I be Queen’ and ‘Please Don’t Take Him Back’ bound through Bearsuit’s new grimy bass laden Yeah Yeah Yeah’s direction, while ‘Foxy Boxer’ emerges as a hidden indie-pop gem from a band who don’t even need the proper charts.

Not that any charts will be bothered by Cinema Red and Blue: a super group of borrowed members of Crystal Stilts and Comet Gain, who play the same stage the following night, but are merely reminiscent of a pub band covering Soul Asylum songs with a Hammond Organ.

Luckily these are replaced by an unexpected appearance by The Aislers Set, the San Franciscan C86-inspired janglers who, after an eight year hiatus, make the Scala buoyant with euphoria as Amy Linton’s vocals serenade the crowd with the wistful ‘The Walk’ and ‘The Red Door’. To further surprise they are commanded to return for an encore, and the night would have been perfect enough had it ended there.

The Primitives take the old baton, but despite the two decades since their hit single ‘Crash’, they look exactly the same. Tracy Tracy is a bouncing indie Lulu and the boys are still twiggy and coy as they spurt through their carefree wonder-pop debut ‘Really Stupid’. Their enthusiasm soars with indie chart classics ‘Sick Of it’ and ‘Way Behind Me’ in what is a tremendous set.

The inevitable pang of disappointment comes as the obligatory newer songs come staggering through with the lazy dance beat of ‘Panic’ and fake rage of ‘Rattle My Cage’, the latter dedicated to Fortuna Pop founder Sean Price. Ending with ‘Crash’, of course, The Primitives regain control of The Scala, giving the bald middle aged men their biggest thrill in years.

Fortuna Pop achieved its fifteen years not through being nostalgic, but by building on an expansive catalogue and genuine love for indie outside of the mass market. Maybe there is life in the independent music industry yet, and Fortuna Pop are the ones manning the gates.