The Vaccines and Everything Everything, Forum Melbourne (9th May 2024)
Thursday night brought the Vaccines and Everything Everything to Melbourne’s Forum (my favourite live music venue) for a joint headliner.
Local act Kitschen Boy opened the evening, and while it’s clear this was likely one of their biggest venues to date, they brought good energy and set the mood for the rest of the night.
Everything Everything are a band I have a lot of time for, and not just because they’re alumni of my hometown’s university. While they’re widely heralded for their avantgarde lyrics, musically they pull together melodic guitar riffs and catchy drum beats to create something that is tonally quite wonderful. And their ability to rework this complex layering into a live performance is really something worth seeing. Opening their set with Wild Guess, they continue to play banger after banger to an enthusiastic crowd. The number of songs featured from their recently released album Mountainhead is a testament to the strength of this record and they weaved this perfectly alongside standouts from the ‘Distant Past’.
The Vaccines followed with a career spanning set list, which on paper, feels like it shouldn’t have worked. Jumping from newer tracks from lastest release Pick up Full of Pink Carnations to old favourites it felt like it should have lost the audience at points along the way. But it really didn’t, and as a long time fan, I was screaming the lyrics to new songs such as The Dreamer just as loud as my long time fave, Wetsuit and I loved every minute. Justin’s charismatic role as front man enthrals the crowd and there are certainly moments when you feel he’s singing just to you. Coupled with Tim’s mind blowing guitar skills, the only word that can truly describe this performance is captivating. After nearly 15 years of watching this band live, it’s fantastic to see that the Vaccines are still as high energy and excited about touring as they were in their early days!