Live: The Vaccines

Tuesday 24 November 2015
reading time: min, words
The indie-poppers returned to the Nottingham stage at the Capital FM Arena
The Vaccines live review

The Vaccines

Indie-poppers The Vaccines were deservingly catapulted to success back in 2011 with their ridiculously simple yet fantastic debut album which flew off the shelves. Tonight, they’re back in what they claim to be their “spiritual home”, and gracing the stage at the Capital FM Arena.

Despite a half-empty arena, the crowd were sent into a frenzy from the very first note during Handsome, taken from their latest album English Grafitti. The 21-song set list hit all the right spots and delivered exactly what the crowd wanted. Red chinese latterns float above the band on the stage with sudden bursts of dazzling disco balls for their upscale set production.

Teenage Icon, Wetsuit, Wolf Pack and other favourites saw pints of beers get launched from one end of the arena to another and shirts got ripped off. Lead singer Justin Young has perfected his live performance and the crowd were eating out of his hands tonight. Tracks from their new album released in May are greeted with cheers and mass singalongs – Dream Lover, Minimal Affection, 20/20 and Want You So Bad are amongst some of the best received.

Guitarist Freddie Cowan shares showman responsibilities with Justin throughout the set, throwing himself round the stage while the rest of the band concentrate on delving into song after song with very little pauses. “Nottingham was our first ever show, we played this song in a bar and people just walked past us” shouts Justin, before diving into 2011 summer anthem Post Break-Up Sex.

The encore opens with a deafening singalong to an acoustic performance of No Hope, performed by Justin alone, “Nottingham was the best night of the tour last time and that night we decided to do this one.” Norgaard rounds up the set, sending the crowd wild for the remaining 90 seconds.

The Vaccines performed at the Capital FM Arena Nottingham on Friday 20 November 2015. 

The Vaccines website

We have a favour to ask

LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?

Support LeftLion

Please note, we migrated all recently used accounts to the new site, but you will need to request a password reset

Sign in using

Or using your

Forgot password?

Register an account

Password must be at least 8 characters long, have 1 uppercase, 1 lowercase, 1 number and 1 special character.

Forgotten your password?

Reset your password?

Password must be at least 8 characters long, have 1 uppercase, 1 lowercase, 1 number and 1 special character.