REVIEW: THE VACCINES AT BRISTOL O2 ACADEMY (02/12/11)
The Vaccines have that cross-genre appeal. They merge the in your face punk of The Clash and co with the depth of Interpol and the swagger of Oasis and leave you begging for more.
Wearing a peace sign tee, frontman Justin shows how multi talented he really is – shying away from the whimsical Mumford and Sons-esque folk of his pre Vaccines Jay Jay Pistolet persona to ramp things up to 11 for some seriously catchy indie pop punk.
Launching straight into Blow It Up, a soaring belter of a song from their debut album ‘What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?’ the up for it crowd started to jump around. Next up, the equally in your face Wreckin Bar and the poignant Tiger Blood. This paves the way for The Bravery style A Lack of Understanding where the crowd join in with the telling “I’ve got too much time on my understand, which you won’t understand.” It proved much more tuneful than the album version.
Hand rise up for the wonderful Wetsuit before the Vaccines showcase some of their newer material (titles tbc) before bringing it back with the awesome All In White complete with the inspired lyric ‘fabricate salvation’ and culminating in a mass singalong. They went on to play a brilliant new addition, No Hope, which sums up the distinct lack of hope among today’s youth.
No visit to Bristol would be complete without a rousing rendition of If You Wanna, a song which Justin revealed was written about a girl who went to Bristol Uni when the Vaccines played the Anson Rooms earlier this year. They end the main set with Family Friend as whispers echo around the room about what they may play in the encore: ‘It’s gotta be Norgaard’. Yep, it’s Norgaard.
Words: Nick Jones
Photo: Laura Williams
