Those wonderful lads from Vagabond invited me to review their headline gig at the City Screen Basement and I was never going to turn down an offer like that was I? This would be the third time I will have seen Vagabond perform in just over a year. This was a sold out gig. Where they any good? Read on to find out dear reader, but first I need to tell you about the support bands. All three bands were so young that the venue had a dry bar, that was a new experience for me! First on stage were District! and incredibly this was their first ever gig. I sensed a degree of nervousness at the start, however they seemed to work through those nerves quite well and became more confident with each song.. Some of their original songs have a perky pop rock vibe and display a lot of promise for the future. Their choice of cover versions was inspired. Especially Radiohead (“No Surprises”) and the Arctic Monkeys (“When The Sun Goes Down”). A quick aside, how the actual fuck is that Arctic Monkeys song 20 years old?
The second band was Some Lions, another young York band. They provided us with a fantastic rock onslaught from the opening instrumental through to the end of their set. I have a couple of special shout outs. Firstly the lead guitarist who played like someone who has been around for years. All his solos were inventive and absolutely bang on. But the drummer shone even brighter, he was undoubtedly the most energetic sticksman I have seen for a while. But it wasn’t just the energy, at times it felt like he was the band’s engine room and that engine was a highly tuned Rolls Royce. Their cover of Rage Against The Machine’s “Killing In The Name” hit the heart of the zeitgeist of our times. It also drew some of the biggest mosh action of the night. This band have the potential to get so much better and they are damned good already!
Finally it was time for Vagabond and they hit the stage like the owned it, in fact more like they owned the city, no scrub that, this set was played with the intensity of a band that believed they were headlining a stadium. Fin had a “gimme your hands” moment with the crowd early on. (Bowie scholars should get that reference!) The crowd, can I call them Vagabonders, are somewhere between adoring fans and acolytes. This is “their” band and they are here from the very beginning of what I believe will be a phenomenal journey. At their roots and in their hearts Vagabond are clearly a punk band, but they have so much more. It is a solid and curious amalgam of the traditional and the modern. Punk, pop punk, power punk and funky punk to list just a few. They drew some significant mosh action too, with the mosh charge being led by the aforementioned Some Lions drummer. In a set full of highlights the pinnacle for me was probably “Freddo Fantasy”. They entertained us all with the awkward stylishness of launching t shirts into the crowd. They were riotous, rambunctious, brash, roaring, strident and were enjoying themselves immensely. They have a healthy amount of arrogance, which works perfectly. If Vagabond continue to develop and improve at this pace they will become not just a band, but a rock phenomenon. Vagabond “mean it maaan”!
At the end of February (27th in fact) Vagabond will be headlining the first Love Music Hate Racism gig at this very venue under the banner of Love Punk Hate Racism. Fin modelled one of the Love Punk Hate Racism T Shirts in their set. They will be supported by the Blair Bitch Project and Sweeping Statement. Look out for much more about that gig in these pages soon!
All of the excellent photographs are courtesy of @bandograph
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