With the waves and waves of bands from all over the world in the U.S. for the now two weekend Coachella festival, many oversea's bands have scheduled gigs before, around and after the massive California festival. One of those bands have been one of 2011's favorite new bands - The Vaccines. The London pop-punk band played New York City for the first time this year Monday night at Webster Hall.
After playing New York City a handful of times last year, this was the first time the band were truly poised and ready for action in front of a Big Apple crowd that loves them dearly. Arriving on stage at 10p.m. sharp, the band looked anything but nervous and broke right into "Blow it Up," the escalating radio-friendly rock tune before breaking into the full-steam ahead punk number "Wrecking Bar (Ra, Ra, Ra)." With the first two songs The Vaccines set the tone of the evening, they are going to slow it down then pick it up and it will be a fun night for everyone. Playing in front of a backdrop that was a giant version of the cover of their brilliant debut, What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?, the band broke into their new single, "Tiger Blood," which was produced by Albert Hammond Jr. of The Strokes. With only their one record a handful of EP's, The Vaccines, who have been hard at work on their sophomore album, road tested four other new songs aside from "Tiger Blood," from what they played, the songs were just as forceful, yet not as poppy as the songs on their debut. The new tracks hear a progression in attitude and style for the band and while it was only a tease, it is something to look forward to.
While the new songs caught the attention of everyone in the packed room, it was favorites like "Wetsuit," "Post Break-up Sex," "If You Wanna," and "Wolf Pack" that got everyone going. "New York City, thank you for giving us a reception like this in a city that has had so much musical history," singer Justin Young told the crowd before the band's two song encore. In the hour The Vaccines were on stage they left their mark that in everyone's head as they go back into the studio, no telling when they will be back again, but when they do, their sets will be longer and packed with more musical ammunition.
