The Vamps @ Genting Arena, 4 May, 2018
The noise and experience of a modern pop concert is an amazing sight to see and hear. This is an experience and there are many parents rushing home to collect their screaming, excited children who need to reach the venue in rush hour traffic.
Luckily, it does start off a little slower tonight as there are 4 supports, starting with Yorkshire based PM. Making quite an entrance with the fans cheering and arms in the air from the start. Frontman Dan Reynard moves along the runway to tap hands. He doesn’t seem to look and pay too much attention, I’m guessing his mind is firmly on singing and that this is something newer due to these size of shows. Nonetheless it keeps fans appeased and jumping for joy.
After only a few songs from the next support HRVY, there is again much screaming delight amongst the hoards of girls present. Short sets are the order of the night with standout song for me being Personal which was his most recent single.
New Hope Club take to the stage, having toured with The Vamps in 2017. The fans who had been to previous shows already know what to expect. The band are familiar to returning fans and this seems clear, they are dressed to impress and Blake Richardson is a great frontman for the band. At only 18 years old he has the girls at his feet, quite literally.
Last up is Jacob Sartorius, who is 15 years old and started his career with Lip Synch videos on the Musical.ly platform. Later going on to release a number of singles. Now he is playing to thousands of people on this tour. He makes quite good use of the stage and the fans roar and sing along with him, personally, I don’t see the appeal, but then I’m old enough to be his dad; that’s a shocking thought.
Tonight is a home town gig on the Night and Day tour, as frontman Bradley Simpson tells us he is “Glad to be Home” the arena is heaving and the fans wait with much anticipation as the lights go down. The girls became a sea of darkness and all you could hear were monstrous roars and squeals throughout the venue as the curtain fell. There was a huge display screen with The Vamps in the centre, looking like night time with lots of stars displayed along the back and a sci-fi type intro to each of the band members on screen. This was followed by a drum beat then suddenly Brad, James, Connor all pop out of the stage from underneath right in front of us with beaming smiles, Brad fist pumping.
There was a bright loud flash and sparks as Brad immediately walked down the walkway his cheeky “Biiiiiiirmingham, How are we all” All confident shining personality. I think that is what is so captivating. They kick off with Staying Up and the crowd are trying to do this jumping and singing along. This is followed by wearing shades as many of the girls don sunglasses in the crowd. Brad was as interactive as ever, squatting and kneeling to reach the crowd at several occasions, holding hands, effortlessly.
The fans were electric from the off, but then the pace slowed down a little and we saw a collaboration with Maggie Lindemann for Personal. This went down a treat and was followed by Pretty Girl before she left the stage. It stays calm for Hands but its not long before the crowd are jumping around again to Brad Calling out “Biiirmingham, Are you still out there?” as the crowd roar back before continuing on.
Next up Wild Heart which is such a catchy number that you only have to hear it once and you will be hooked singing it as you’re on your drive home or randomly in the office. Be warned, you don’t want the office making fun of you.
The winners of a Twitter competition OnstageWithTheVamps are next. The winner looked delighted and a little overwhelmed by the crowd size, she had a selfie with the band.
Tristan gets his time to shine as he does his solo on the stage with the back screen displaying sound waves. The whole screen was used, which looked mesmerising and then closing Oh Cecilia (Breaking My Heart) where the whole crowd, including mums dads are clearly singing along.
Thunderous roars commence as we want to bring them back for more, this does not take long before they bounce along to perform a 3 song encore. Wake Up, which showed both band and fans had energy remaining, then slowing it down Same To You and closing on All Night as confetti poured out over the arena. A fitting close for the Night and Day tour in Birmingham.
Tonight with The Vamps were as fun as ever. They all have talent and have had to grow and deal with the accelerated rise to fame. Brad especially manages it so well and comes across as such a down to earth guy.
This was another great performance.
Reviewer/Photographer: Chris Bowley