On Thursday night (July 30), fans of The Vamps descended on Times Square to see the pop/rock band at the Best Buy Theater during the NYC stop on their latest headline tour.
Artists from the UK are a staple on American charts now, and it seems as if every day there’s a new band with those undeniably appealing accents crossing the pond to flaunt their talent.
Well, The Vamps are some intense competition–that much is clear from their live show.
Opening act Before You Exit were first: pop rockers from Orlando, Florida. They got the crowd suitably pumped before making way for The Tide, who have a similar sound. The Tide are
the first act signed to The Vamps’ as yet unnamed record label, which they recently announced they’re launching.
Brad Simpson (lead/guitar), Connor Ball (bass/backing vocals), Tristan Evans (drums/backing vocals), and James McVey (lead guitar/backing vocals) opened with “Wild Heart,” then “Hurricane,” a feel-good anthem about conquering those bad days and coming out on the other side even stronger than before.
From there, they launched into their hit singles and a few album tracks pulled from their debut, Meet The Vamps.
Highlights of the night
About halfway through the show, Tristan left everybody stunned with an intense drum solo that lasted quite a few minutes. It was nice to see a band’s drummer taking center stage for once. It doesn’t happen often enough
,
if you ask me.
Before singing one of their fan favorites, “Move My Way,” James reminisced on the very beginnings of the four-piece
,
when he and Brad were alone before the band fully came together and found their success. He seemed genuinely grateful to everyone in the sold-out venue, as well as their label Virgin EMI, for making a headline tour possible.
The band also did several covers, including Miley Cyrus’ “We Can’t Stop” and Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk.”
The cover that really got the room jumping, though, was their version of My Chemical Romance’s “Teenagers.” Connor’s vocals stood out here, another refreshing moment; it’s nice to see everyone in the band get their chance to shine. The cover was also well-suited to the amount of energy these guys harness onstage–their rock tends to have a softer sound than MCR, but I have to say, hard
rock looks good on them!
At the end of the show, they returned for an encore to perform “Can We Dance,” the debut single that put them on my radar in 2013 when it aired on Capital FM in the UK. The night wouldn’t have been complete without that one.
Overall verdict: There wasn’t a single fan in that venue who wasn’t dancing and clapping all night.
The Vamps’ sophomore album is expected this fall.
Their world tour ends in Los Angeles on August 8. If you can catch a show (which you should!), ticket information is on their official website.
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