Henry Moodie, The Aces and The Vamps
Utilita Arena Birmingham // Birmingham, England // 11 December 2022
Photos and Review by Sophie Jones
Henry Moodie
I discovered Henry Moodie earlier this year when his best-known track, “You Were There For Me” was suggested on Spotify, which was amazing to finally hear live. Henry interacted with the crowd throughout his set and seemed to really impress them. He even did a cover of Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space,” which had the whole arena singing along with him.
The Aces
Up next were The Aces, who I was lucky enough to see back in 2018 at the Hare and The Hound venue, which had a capacity of about 200 people. It was nice to see the girls playing in a much larger venue now. They kicked off their set with one of their newest tracks, “My Phone Is Trying To Kill Me.” There was a lot of energy on that stage and they utilized the space well while jumping about, shredding those guitars and interacting with the crowd, which seemingly made the audience more enthusiastic. Personally, I can’t wait to see The Aces come back and do their own headline tour.
The Vamps
Now it was time for the main attraction – The Vamps. It was the final night of the 10 Years of The Vamps Tour, which celebrated their 10-year career thus far, and the five albums they’ve produced. I’ve personally been a fan of The Vamps from the start, so to see their progression over the years has been something wonderful to witness. As a long-time fan of the band, I was extremely excited to see what the night would bring and whether they could top previous performances I’ve been lucky enough to witness.
Opening their set with “Last Night” and “Girls On TV,” taken from their first album Meet The Vamps, the band proved they were setting the bar high with their energy levels, as Bradley’s charismatic showmanship saw him work the whole stage while playing to the audience seamlessly as the fans chanted the lyrics, jumped for joy and just lapped up the performance. What I’ve loved witnessing over the years with The Vamps is the sense of community that they bring, inviting us, the audience, to witness their friendship through their banter on stage, harmonies, timeless structure to their performance, and the sheer chaos of the fans.
During their set, Bradley took a brief moment to ask the audience, “Don’t suppose anyone brought any shades tonight?” as the crowd erupted, realizing what song was up next, which happened to be “Shades On.” The performance had the room bouncing and even a few pairs of shades were thrown on stage.
Whilst performing “Middle Of The Night,” the fans screamed the line “I miss you” so loud it was quite deafening. Following this song was “Wake Up,” which saw Connor and James exit the stage, leaving Bradley front and center at the end of the ramp. He talked to the crowd, mentioning how the song “Shout About It” was only played on the first night of the tour and hadn’t been played since. “I haven’t the right guitar, so maybe later we might do it if that’s okay with the drunk reprobates,” he said.
He continued to joke with the audience that he was grateful that the band has had a 10-year career thus far, but he hasn’t been able to grow any facial hair in that time, so maybe in the next 10 years, he might have a full beard.
As the end of the set neared, there was a brief intermission that included a video of the band’s history, allowing fans to enjoy clips of past music videos, songs, fan encounters and much more, all of which led up to this 10th-year anniversary.
They ended their set with fan favorites “Oh Cecilia (Breaking My Heart)” and “Somebody To You.” Overall, I would highly recommend anyone to go see the Vamps live, as I feel this tour specifically allowed fans old and new to explore the different eras of the band and their versatility.
