Photo Credit: Jack Delve
Ten years ago, The Vamps released their debut album Meet The Vamps. The album kick started their career which has seen them headline the O2 Arena five times in five consecutive years, perform shows worldwide and gain an ever growing fanbase thanks to their brilliant live shows. As part of their 10 years Meet The Vamps anniversary tour, we headed to the sold-out Bournemouth show to celebrate the album and hear it in full alongside some fan favourites.
With the venue packed wall to wall and the temperature hotting up, Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody filled the air – most Vamps fans know that once this song kicks in it’s time to get ready for the show to begin! As a ‘Meet The Vamps’ chant filled the venue, a sea of cameras took to the skies and the band kicked off with Wild Heart. It quickly became apparent that the sound mixing wasn’t quite right as it was difficult to hear Bradley Simpson’s vocals over the strong crowd singalong.
As hits including feel-good Hurricane and Last Night rolled into action, smiles graced the bands faces as Connor Ball and James Brittain-McVey took a chance to take in the bouncing crowd who took the ‘Touch the sky Bournemouth!’ instruction literally. As the sound shifted to how we’d expect a Vamps show to sound, there were no excuses to not pay attention to every one of Simpson’s commands.
‘Good evening Bournemouth, how the devil are we? It’s good to be back!’ exclaimed Simpson continuing to explain this was a hometown show for Brittain-McVey who went to a local school. Many know the special role Bournemouth holds in The Vamps’ history with some of those who’d been supporting the band since the start (including Brittain-McVey’s mum!) in the audience tonight. With one of the first verses the band wrote being for She Was The One, it was a stand out part of the night during this guitar led track where we saw the tight guitar work of Brittain-McVey, Simpson and Ball come together making a beautiful moment.
The O2 Academy crowd were loving their trip down memory lane, seeing how the bands sound has evolved over the years but with their signature catchy choruses and sincere vocals still remaining as strong as ever. Bringing with them a simple staging and bringing it to life with eye catching visual screens, it was great to see a small venue show enhanced so effectively.
Over the years, it’s become a tradition for Oh Cecilia (Breaking My Heart) to be accompanied by a threw the crowd conga line. Fans both old and those new to the Vamily were making their way around the venue making new friends as they went. Taking things down a notch, the band came to the front of the stage to sit down for a short acoustic set. Performing the album in full, meant a chance for tracks such as Dangerous, Fall and Jack to get showcased, with varying levels of crowd participation which was always expected during a full album show. The acoustic section became an ultimate trip down memory lane, with raw vocals giving us an unfiltered listen to the quartet. Much loved High Hopes provided one of the biggest singalongs of the night, with a fun lyric change ‘We could move to Bournemouth too’ getting a huge cheer from the crowd.
From calm to the instantly recognisable introduction of Wake Up, it took us back to 2015 as the crowd led the track. Before it was time for drummer Tristan Evans to get his starring moment during a drum solo to the band’s track Chemicals, with the rest of the band back onstage Brittain-McVey took on vocal lead for Move My Way. Taking plenty of time out to chat to the crowd, even checking in about those who talk a lot of shit when they’re drinking as debut single Can We Dance kicked off. In the blink of an eye, Simpson wasn’t anywhere to be seen, much to the confusion of the crowd and the band (Ball’s face was a picture!) as he appeared up in one of the venue’s balconies looking out at the crowd. Dominating the crowd and unleashing the inner rockstar once again, we were jumping, we were partying and we were having a pop-perfect night. After a the run around the venue, it went from jumping to lit up as Simpson’s vocals filled the venue during heartfelt Shout About It, each word sung packing an emotional punch with the quartet perfectly in sync with each others energy. Closing off the main part of the night, with crowd singalongs hitting their peak was All Night.
The atmosphere in the increasingly hot venue was something we hadn’t felt in a long time and this is down to the special fanbase The Vamps have gathered over the years. Taking a chance to thank everyone involved in making the show so special, and waving to the queen (James’ mum Karen) it’s clear to see why their journey has been such a great one so far, they love every moment on that stage and in turn the crowd did too.
With the party drawing to a close, the band weren’t finished just yet as Another World opened their encore with Simpson over on the piano, taking our breath away with the delicate vocals. ‘Bournemouth, you don’t happen to know a song called Lovestruck do you?’ oh they definitely did though as flowers were thrown at the feet of the band during the ‘I’d lay flowers at your feet’ lyric. ‘We’ve heard Bournemouth is the Vegas of the South Coast,’ joked Simpson prior to Married in Vegas. With Ball on top of the piano as the jangly intro began the track, the stutter bridge of ‘sin city under the sun’ was chanted back as the party continued without hesitation and the band’s energy was peaking. A quick break for Evans gave chance for a Brittain-McVey vs Ball scream along, was there a winner? Maybe us for having earplugs on hand!
Penultimate track Risk It All saw clapping, smiles across the quartets faces and an incredible guitar outro which left us and many others in awe of how slick their musicianship is and how solid The Vamps are as a musical unit. For many it’s been hard to shake 2014 labels they had, but as time has moved on to see the band come into their own and prove their skills as musicians and songwriters has been a great journey to watch. Closing a nearly two hour set with Somebody To You, they joked ‘Shall we do this again on the same day?’ before explaining ‘we used to come here and rehearse at James’ parents house. Bournemouth has always had a special places in our hearts’ and it’s clear that Bournemouth has a special place in theirs for The Vamps. As fans took to shoulders, phones upon request of Simpson were put away and everyone lived in the moment, it was a brilliant end to a great set from the band.
It was three years to the day since the band were playing this exact venue as part of their Cherry Blossom tour and it gave a chance to look back on what they’ve done in this time; with a new era of Vamps music around the corner as Simpson, Ball and Brittain-McVey have all embarked on their own side projects we can’t wait to see what the future holds for the band. See you in 2025 for the Wake Up album anniversary tour?
Written By: Nicola Craig
