The Vamps - Take you for a trip in the Fusion reactor!!!

August 30th 2015

Birmingham, Fusion Festival, UK

****1/3

Promising performance by The Vamps!!!

Fusion Festival

The Vamps ****1/3 are one of the most popular boyband's of the moment, and today is their third year in a row at the Fusion Festival and they find themselves right near the top of the bill at the UK's biggest Pop music festival Fusion. The thing I like about The Vamps is that they are bridging the gap between Pop and Rock, and as someone that doesn't like boundaries and genres. This is a good things, good music is good music and The Vamps have some very cleverly written Pop Punk / Rock songs. That many people in the Rock World might accept, if they didn't know it was by this young up and coming Pop act.

After a short montage video, they break into the ever so catchy hit single 'Wild Heart' which has got over twenty five million views on YouTube already. Also their debut album 'Meet the Vamps' hit No.2 in the UK album chart, so this is a band that is really going places and their is a lot of people really looking forward to their performance today. They play their set with style and determination making sure they will not be over shone by McBusted who are headlining tonight.

During this track and other tracks in the bands performance, singer Brad Simpson runs round the stage like he possessed with jumps and leaps that are quite impressive. He runs down the massive Fusion walkway at the front of the stage like he is running in a race as he sings the lyrics boldly into the microphone. The Vamps feel god factor is really infectious, so quickly is absorbed by the crowd like the people in it are a big sponge. Their singles 'Hurricane' and 'Somebody to You' are a good example of their happy persona, and the young girls really love this fact.

The Vamps are a fun band, and are not meant to be taken totally serious... but strangely I think they are actually strangely quite serious for their age. Remember every member of this band is really young, and have years a head of them to get serious and do other projects. Bass player Connor Ball shows determination all over his face, as he larks around with singer Brad. While guitarist James McVey hardly mores around and shows that he is the more shy member of the band, and drummer Tristan Evans bangs away crazily surrounded by puppets of Animal from the Muppets.

They also play a few covers in their set including 'Uptown Funk (Mark Ronson Feat. Bruno Mars), Shake it off (Taylor Swift), We can't Stop (Miley Cyrus), Cecilia (Simon and Garfunkel), Seven nation Army (The White Stripes), In too Deep (Sum 41)' and a brilliant version of 'Teenagers' by My chemical Romance. All played like they are their own songs, which is quite achievement for a new Pop band to do. One of the best moments is the brilliant hit 'Last Night', which just launches off like it has a life of it's own and their is a great deal of bouncing around the audience as the band show how energetic they actually are.

This band has such versatility they can go from a love song like 'Move my Way', to the Reggae UB40 inspired 'Girls on TV', which I am sure is a favourite with the audience at the Fusion Festival. It really gives everyone a chance to have a little dance. Their set today is far longer than the two years previous and as they come back on to an acoustic rendition of 'Risk it All' , that is really heartfelt and works really well with the lights and atmosphere of the festival.Also it's quite fun when the band egg prankster Ben Phillips in front of the big festival crowd, I think this is payback for a previous stunt he did on the band.

Going out with 'Can we Dance', that I am sure we have all heard on the radio non stop recently. You know you have seen a band with a bright future, and an act that I actually enjoy more every time I see them. You always have to respect a Pop band that play their own instruments, and write a good song. If you have not heard the Vamps, then purchse their debut album 'Meet the Vamps'... it's full of lots of hits and is well worth a purchase.