The Vaccines are spreading like an epidemic. With their first U.S. headlining tour underway, this indie-rock British band is extending their reach far beyond the United Kingdom and right into our eardrums. On February 1, I was lucky enough to see them live at D.C.’s own 9:30 Club.
In case you were fortunate enough to stay indoors this past weekend, let me tell you: it was cold. Not just scarf and gloves cold. It was multiple jackets, multiple pairs of socks, multiple heat packs in both your gloves and shoes cold. And yet my friends and I made the brilliant decision to stand outside the 9:30 Club two hours in advance with the hopes of making it to the coveted rail. An hour before the show, the club’s security allowed the first thirty people in line to enter the building at sit at the bar before the show. Because of my notoriously wonderful luck, the line cut off right before my group of friends, banishing us to waiting outdoors and crushing our dreams of making the rail. Finally, right as we were about to sucuumb to hypothermia, we were allowed in.
Opening for The Vaccines was a band from Australia called San Cisco. There is no better word to describe this group than adorable. With their floral shirts, Aussie accents, and indie-pop awesomeness, they could not have been cuter. Besides this adorableness, however, they were good. The lead singer, Jordi, who could not have been much older than us, is the type of performer that I could see preteen girls having posters of in their room one day. Actually, I wouldn’t mind having a poster of Jordi in my room…
Anyway, besides their awesome lead singer, guitarist, and bassist, they had one feature that made them especially awesome: a girl drummer. Although we all know that girl drummers are cooler than guy drummers (ex: Elaine of Neon Trees), Scarlett (San Cisco’s drummer) was so cool that she wore a dress. That’s right. This girl was drumming and singing and wearing a dress. She was the epitome of cool.
Besides being the coolest band around, San Cisco made awesome music. Although most of the crowd besides my friends and I were unfamiliar with the them, everyone was totally into them. So into them, in fact, that they’ll be coming back to the D.C. area to perform at the Rock and Roll Hotel in March. Everyone should take this opportunity to enjoy an awesomely, adorably fun indie-pop concert by a group of well-dressed Aussies.
But don’t just take my word for it: check out San Cisco’s new video for their song “Fred Astaire” here!
As sad as we were to see San Cisco leave the stage, we knew the best was still to come. The Vaccines entered the stage to the crowd going absolutely insane (myself included). I had previously warned the people in my vicinity that there was a distinct chance that I would accidentally injure someone, which they accepted (although they didn’t really have a choice).
When they played their first chord of the song “No Hope” off of their new album “Come of Age”, I could barely contain myself. And apparently, neither could the rest of the crowd. I went so crazy during “No Hope” that by the time their second song “Wreckin Bar” came around, I was too out of breath to sing along, although it is my favorite song of theirs. You may recognize it from the HBO show “Girls”, when it was a featured song during the credits of an episode.
They put on an amazing show. All members of the band really gave fantastic performances and it showed. We were standing right in front of the guitarist Freddie and, considering how gorgeous he is, none of us were complaining. He was all over the stage, jumping off of speakers and playing on his knees like a real rock star.
Lead singer Justin put in an equally fantastic performance, all with the crazed look in his eyes of a true artist. One would have no idea that he was still recovering from surgery on his vocal chords, because he sounded absolutely amazing.
The crowd really responded to The Vaccines’ performance, and there was no shortage of crowdsurfers. By the time it had ended, my friends and I were exhausted. However, the exhaustion was well worth the experience we had had at the 9:30 Club that night.
Just when we thought things couldn’t get better, we had the opportunity to meet the band’s drummer, Pete, after we waited outside the venue. Check out this picture we got with him! (He’s in the back in black).
One of the greatest parts about being in D.C. is the music scene. As a music lover, I am so lucky to have access to all of the awesome venues around the city, and the experiences that go along with them.