The Vaccines at the Ally Pally

Wandering around the large and looming Alexandra Palace, simultaneuosly trying to avoid drunky, lairy forty year old men who wanted to “ave it large” while attempting not to trip over the large number of excited teenage girls scurrying about, it became blindingly obvious how much of a big deal The Vaccines have become. Few bands at the moment could captivate such a diverse crowd whilst releasing a new album, which although not revolutionary, provided a darker, more sinister step up from their wide-eyed debut.

Although now stepping out onto a huge stage as darlings of the mainstream, The Vaccines still have punk attitudes somewhere in their heart. Their choice of seminal Canadian hardcore band Fucked Up to be main support for this massive date confused and scared the swelling crowds in equal measures. Their was little continuity between the Beach Boy guitar pop which would soon bring the venue to its knees and the brutal hollerings of a semi-naked sweaty punk icon but I enjoyed the surprise nevertheless.

There have been countless articles predicting that The Vaccines can be saviours of the guitar, drag modern indie out of its current rut andgive it a new heart. From my very enviable position in the front row, I could properly appreciate these outlandish claims. This is the first band since The Libertines I have witnessed who inspired such devotion. The ten thousand tickets for this show sold out in the flash of an eye and by the number of disappointed fans outside I think they could have easily filled another night.

Opening with newie “No Hope” the cheers, which went up around me, drowned out Justin’s drawling chorus celebrating antithapy and selfishness. As the masses of gleeful faces settled down, a large number of hits from the first album What Did You Expect From The Vaccines turn the Ally Pally into a sloshy mess of hormones and spilled lager.

It was, however, one of the best tracks of the new album Come of Age that caught my attention. “Teenage Icon” is a sweet three minute piece of surf pop perfection. The lyrics are not deep and it might be slightly predictable in the formula used, but boy does it leave you dumbstruck. The Vaccines show that you do not have to reinvent the wheel, you just have to make it look cool and drop some Strokes-lite fuzz on it.

The Vaccines turn the Ally Pally into a sloshy mess of hormones and lager

One of the largest disappointments of the show was that their best song to date “Weirdo” was not played at all. I cannot understand this omission given as it is one of the centrepieces of their latest album. Maybe it was deemed too slow, too heavy or too creepy and might ruin the vibe but I think they definitely missed a trick, especially with a relatively quick set. I could so many people desperate to sing out the lines “I don’t want to let it go, You know I am not a weirdo” but this was not to be their night.

With an encore of “Bad Mood”, “Wolf Pack” and “Norgaard” there are outbreaks of euphoria not witnessed since the summer with The Stone Roses reunion dates. There was crowdsurfing galore and circlepits dominated the front section of the out of control crowd. The Vaccines have oft been accused of being a pale pastiche, a 60s retro-revivalism outfit but the sight of todays youth getting their kicks from fuzzy surf pop rather than soul-less Minaj pop or fizzy drinks was no bad thing. Although watching hundreds of pre-pubescent faces singing back the lines to “Post Break-Up Sex” in unison was strange to say the least.

Returning home to London for this career defining show, the bands ambition to impress was tangible. They posed, they crooned, they rocked out on the stage, and the thousands packed into this venue responded with a huge amount of love. “This is the best fucking night of my life” howled the ecstatic frontman and Justin and the gang looked like they truly belonged up there in front of all of these people: but what next? In May of next year The Vaccines are due to play at the twenty thousand capacity O2 Area but are they ready for headlining major festivals? It is definitely a possibility but I think they need a bit more depth to their repertoire if they were to storm Glastonbury.