Steve Poole, a professor of history and heritage at UWE Bristol, said: “Last saw him playing with the Aeroplanes in December, lost in the music and cheerfully encouraging random crowd members to help him bang out the chords to Breaking in my Heart on his guitar. So sad we’ll never see him again.” Bruschini’s death is being keenly felt in the tight-knit Bristol music scene, where friends and fans remembered him as a fine human being as well as a brilliant musician. Bruschini’s wife, Jessica Merritt, wrote on Facebook: “I am very sad to announce that my beautiful husband, Angelo Bruschini, died on 23 October 2023 at 12.15am. It was from a rare and aggressive cancer – pleomorphic carcinoma.” She said he had been a “gentleman to the end” and would be remembered for his “madcap” sense of humour as well as his musicianship.

Despite his diagnosis, Bruschini said he wouldn’t give up and, as well as playing music, had continued to take swipes at the Conservative government over the last few months.

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