The VO5 NME Tour
Long gone are the days of NME-curated tours being infamous escapades of rock and roll trailblazing, it seems, as this year’s edition commences at Norwich UEA for the first time since 2013. With the LCR plastered in branding (is VO5 a cool brand? Discuss.) the distinctly commercial tone is just about offset by the unmistakeable buzz of teenage enthusiasm.
In the slot that’s previously hosted the likes of Florence and the Machine, and The Vaccines, Rory Wynne delivers an appallingly unremarkable start, but it takes little more than the arrival of Mancunian tyrants Cabbage to give the tone a well needed kick up the arse. Diving promptly into Uber Capitalist Death Trade, chaos erupts with teenage bodies propelled in all directions to the sheer noise-rock intensity. While the ever-amusing Dinner Lady is cut short by a thwarted attempt at a stage invasion the group are on full form, morphing into a pulsating punk-rock machine as Kevin is given an extended outro.
Eight odd months since Blossoms released their eponymous debut album, the Stockport boys are well and truly at the top of their game. Their show has changed very little since their last Norwich visit, to the Waterfront in October, and this predictability detracts a little of the magic the group used to embody. But the swirling mix of guitars and synthesizers is still a mighty force to be reckoned with.
Frontman Tom Ogden is on fine form throughout. In full dreamboat mode, he’ll stride confidently around the stage whilst on guitar, before coyly hanging out his microphone, to be serenaded with his own lyrics. Morrissey is channelled in more ways than just Ogden’s ‘Marry Me’ sweater, and glimmers of young Alex Turner are hard not to detect in his cutely blasé stage demeanour.
The set is slick and rehearsed to the gesture. Singles Getaway and Honey Sweet are met with the most passion, but even the more obscure B-sides aired get the moshpit treatment from the uncharacteristically lively Monday night crowd. A Stranger Things inspired instrumental fronts the encore, before melting woozily into Cut Me And I’ll Bleed. Goodbyes are said, and classic-in-the-making Charlemagne has never sounded better as it resounds around the spacious venue. In an era of stagnating guitar music, Blossoms are riding high, and won’t be coming down any time soon.
Photos by Charlotte Robinson
