Music > Live Reviews

The Vaccines

13/04/15

As the band enter the LCR stage Buddy Holly’s Brown Eyed Handsome Man is blasting out and it sets the tone perfectly for a ferociously frenetic evening that’s played out full pelt at break neck speed.

It is a full on raucous sing along throughout the next nineteen songs, right from the opening songs, a blistering trio of Teenage Icon, Wreckin’ Bar and Ghost Town. Mid-set, lead singer Justin Hayward-Young, says "Let’s see how this one sounds sung with a Norfolk accent", and Post Break-Up Sex ensues. It sounds just great and at this point the audience are simply already soft butter in the warm palm of his hands and we are not yet even half way through the set.

New songs Dream Lover and Handsome appear to rather seamlessly fit into the set even though the forthcoming album English Graffiti isn’t out until the end of next month. Wetsuit, All In White and Blow It Up ensure that a wild sing along continues throughout this wild celebration of indie pop rock. They already have some quite epic songs in their catalogue and to their credit they crunch them out as they rip out the chords during each and every song, all of them are barely no longer than three and a half minutes (their staple diet) and it works like a dream. As the evening comes to a close after seventy five minutes the crowd are baying for more, demanding an encore and they are not disappointed as Hayward-Young returns initially on his own to perform an acoustic version of No Hope followed then by his band members joining him for a finale of Wolf Pack and Norgaard.

What was I expecting this evening? Well to be perfectly honest, I just wasn’t expecting The Vaccines to be this good live. It has been quite simply just a brilliant Tuesday night out and one that will live long in the memory, a gig that will I am sure take some beating for many during 2015 including myself. It has been a long time since I have seen a band really tear up the LCR in this fashion. The Vaccines are real torch bearers for live music. They shine positively bright with attitude, swagger and charm.