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TEENAGE pop idols The Vamps lit up the stage at the Bahrain International Circuit on Saturday evening as fanatic female followers flocked to the gig to get a glimpse of their heroes.
The pop quartet, consisting of singer Brad Simpson, guitarist James McVey, bassist Connor Ball and drummer Tristan Evans, performed a medley of their own hits, including Can We Dance and Wild Heart, and covers of boy band classics.
Rabid fans queued up since the early afternoon to ensure they got to the front of the stage for a chance to grab a photo opportunity or high-five their heroes.
One dedicated follower Charlotte Webber, 14, said: “We got here at 3pm to queue, but it seems like quite a few others had the same idea! When the barriers opened at 6pm, my friends and I ran as fast as we could and luckily there was still a few spaces on the barrier.
“It’s been an incredibly hot day, the hottest of the year so far it feels like, but it was worth waiting around in. I got some amazing photos and managed to touch the singer!”
Unfortunately, the heat and the lack of fluid intake (no doubt because nipping off to buy a drink inevitably resulted in you losing your hard-earned spot at the front) took its toll, with press photographers capturing the sights of girls fainting and being carried away to safety by security.
However, this didn’t seem to dampen spirits at all. In fact, one brave soul was carried out with an extremely red, sweaty face, spent a minute on the side-lines, poured a bottle of water over her head and entered the fray once again. It might not be Henry V-esque ‘once more unto the breach, dear friends’ levels of courage, but there was something admirable in her determination.
Thankfully, for my own sanity and well-being, my days of queueing early and racing to the barrier are long behind me (OK, that’s a blatant lie, I’m guilty too, but for some reason a performance from a band of One Direction-wannabes on a hastily-assembled stage in front of a few hundred people does not stir the same excitement in me as seeing my favourite rock and metal titans in a packed-out Manchester Arena or Wembley Stadium!)
Instead, I took the relaxed ‘loitering at the back’ option so I could enjoy the music and not have to dodge the various shapes and sizes of clothing being lobbed on stage and subject my eardrums to shrieks that could tame a banshee.
‘Enjoy’ is the key word here. I mean, it’s very particular music for a very particular audience, and both sides know what they’re getting. If any person over the age of 18, probably 14, or frankly any male ever conceived at all, can ‘enjoy’ this, then it really does emphasise how far the music industry has fallen since the turn of the millennium.
In fact, I was so confused about this myself that I sought out one of the males, thankfully a vast minority in attendance, Jack Thompson, and asked him whether this was his usual fare.
The 20 year-old explained: “To be brutally honest, I’m just here because my girlfriend dragged me along. I bought two F1 tickets as I wanted company for the race, and she said the only way she’d come with me was if I came to this for her. As far as compromises go, I definitely drew the short straw.”
I could have hugged him there and then, but instead we reminisced about previous gigs and festivals we attended back in the UK while debating whether to attempt to start a mosh pit or a Wall of Death (if you don’t know what one of them is, don’t look it up …) for a laugh. Ultimately, it was too hot to bother!
Back to the concert, sickly-sweet pop turned into saccharine singalongs, with every chorus big, loud and cheesy. Somehow, almost all of them were manufactured in such a way that endless ‘woahhs’ could be elicited from the crowd, to widespread delirium in most quarters, and infinite tedium in others.
I must admit, to The Vamps’ credit, they can at least play their instruments unlike most of their contemporaries, who parade around in front of a backing track and occasionally throw a dance routine in. In particular, drummer Evans impressed at various points with his solos and should be destined for bigger and better things once expanding his musical spectrum and not being subject to intense female affection becomes his priority.
Actually, when you put it like that, that’ll probably be never.
Following the band’s final number, there was a short break before Swedish DJ Otto Knows came to the stage to spin his beats. Unfortunately for him, the combination of school and work the next morning, the fact that it was a particularly hot evening and kids had been queuing, dancing and screaming their lungs out for going on seven hours, he found himself with a crowd of about 20 people. An easy pay day, I guess
– Kristian Harrison
