The Vaccines, arguably Britain’s best live band, played o2 Academy Leicester this week. The sold-out show was intimate yet uproarious, with the 5-piece sauntering onto the stage to play ‘Your Love Is My Favourite Band’ to begin. The Vaccines’ drum set even said ‘Your Love Is My Favourite,’ which was an endearing touch.
Frontman, Justin Young, introduced the band members and said hello to “old friend” Leicester. Later on, he would give an anecdote as to why he felt “an affinity” to Leicester, explaining that the band played their first gig in the city and were signed to a record label as a result. Poor Justin, however, was in the process of losing his voice. You could barely tell as he put an abundance of passion into his performance, even making eye contact with audience members and singing at them, to ensure they felt included. He asked for the crowd to participate during ‘Wetsuit’ as a “warm-up” and they were more than happy to comply.
The 21-track setlist certainly was impressive and the band kept up the high energy performances again and again with their hits ‘Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra)’, ‘If You Wanna Come Back’, ‘Norgaard’ and ‘Post-Break-Up Sex’ with the conviction and ease that only a world-class band can. They had their pick of infectious anthems to choose from!
With ‘Post-Break-Up Sex’, their frontman once again asked the crowd to sing along and “make up” for the fact that nobody did the first time they played this song in Leicester. And, again, the audience delivered. It seemed like a symbiotic relationship, especially during the hedonistic ‘Nightclub’ as part of the triple-song encore. When Justin didn’t sing the chorus, the crowd seemed too busy enjoying themselves to mind.
The set was broken up by calmer songs like ‘Put It On A T-Shirt’ and ‘Rolling Stones’ (Interestingly, The Vaccines have actually supported The Rolling Stones on tour previously). Also, the band decided to play a “brand new” song called ‘Let’s Jump Off The Top’ which could be likened to ‘Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra)’ but with a slight 1950s American twist.
The band also played their current single ‘All My Friends Are Falling In Love’ from their latest album, ‘Combat Sports’. It reached the Top 5 in the UK Album Charts. They also performed ‘I Can’t Quit’ from the same album.
It was a great night and the fans were clearly enamoured by the brilliant The Vaccines.
See The Vaccines’ tour dates.