Friday 23 March 2018

1078 THE VACCINES, Marlborough Thirty8 Café, Thursday 22nd March 2018




A proper family outing, this, then…  my dear lady wife Rachel, a massive Vaccines fan thanks to their evident classic 50’s rock’n’roll influences (albeit filtered through a new millennial indie rock sensibility), had already booked us tix for their forthcoming Alexandra Palace gig next month; however another, earlier opportunity arose to catch them, this time at considerably closer quarters, at Marlborough’s excellent Sound Knowledge record shop, where they were booked to do an in-store performance and signing session promoting their forthcoming, 4th, album “Combat Sports”. A phone call to the shop revealed a purchase of said album was necessary to secure entry, so I simply treated this as the price of admission and organised entry for the whole family. Rach is, as mentioned, a massive fan, I’ve been warming to them over time and have always enjoyed them “live”, and Logan and Kasey were both intrigued by some Vaccines numbers on rotation on the car stereo, both in particular singing happily along to oldie “If You Wanna”…

We picked up our “Vaccinated” wristbands the previous Saturday, after an abortive earlier trip, so had a drive down to this old Market Town after tea, parking up in the middle of the High Street for 6.30. The event, being held in Sound Knowledge’s neighbouring café Thirty8 (downstairs this time) was already rammed, so we got drinks in the upstairs bar before taking a spot outside the venue, next to the outside speakers and in neck-craning view of the side of the stage. Even this patch of earth however got fairly crowded as The Vaccines squeezed through to kick off their short set, and Rach took Kasey back to a less crowded spot as the opening bars of newie “Nightclub” proved too noisy for her! Logan and I stayed in, however, as The Vaccines powered through this impressive, spiky opener, plunging headlong thereafter into another, similarly swift and whip-smart newie “Surfing In The Sky”. Breathless stuff!

This was actually as good as I’d seen The Vaccines; however short, this was a performance of impressive purpose, and I found myself musing how their NME-hyped ascent up the ladder of rock’n’roll fame, a dozen rungs at a time, to Academy level headliners in the blink of an eye had actually robbed us of the opportunity to see how they performed in a small venue, where stages are cramped and festooned with wires and equipment, and you can see the whites of the baying crowds eyes. A shame indeed, as on tonight’s evidence they’d have been fucking great in, say, The Joiners or The Thekla back in the day, for this was a committed and razor-sharp performance, thrilling and dynamic, with vocalist Justin Young, who had been developing nicely into an arena-level mass-communicator of some note, proving even more impressive in these cosy confines, throwing shapes with a commanding strut and swagger.

And I’m pleased to report that I was very impressed with all 4 new numbers on display this evening; whereas swathes of their previous output had seemed so much like a hotch-potch of their influences (Ramones-like big fun dumb punk rock, naïve C86 jangle, and that ever-present Buddy Holly-esque 50’s soda bar doo-wop), tonight’s newies sounded, well, like The Vaccines. At last. Well done boys, it’s only taken you 4 albums (Ha! Well, for me, anyway…!)…



Logan sneaked into a spot by the side of the stage early doors, then a steward ushered him around to a spot stage right at the front, whereupon I spotted my mate Stuart Gould down the front, Logan squeezing through to join Stu at this vantage spot. So for the inevitable “If You Wanna” my lad was front center, bellowing the words back to Justin, a point not lost on the frontman. Another fine newie, the Summery “whoo-ooh-oh” catchiness of “I Can’t Quit” ended a splendid vignette, a serious appetite whetter for Ally Pally!

Rach and Kasey had danced at the side, then bagged early queue spots for the signing session upstairs in Sound Knowledge itself. So after a short wait (during which I chatted annoyingly loudly (allegedly!) with various friends, including James, Laura, Rich Carter and Stuart “Langers” and family) we all met and got pics and signed stuff with an affable band, Justin taking it in good humour when Logan (referencing Frank Turner) asked him, “are you the last great romantic poet?” A fun evening rounded off and we got the kids back home for a slightly later bedtime. Fine stuff from The Vaccines, and nice to see them in front of a couple of hundred folks; there’ll be 12,000 in at Ally Pally…!

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