BRADLEY SIMPSON MAKES SOLO DEBUT DOWN UNDER

LIVE REVIEW | BRADLEY SIMPSON w/ Jacob Fitzgerald and The Electric City | NORTHCOTE THEATRE, MELBOURNE by Kayleigh Nickson

Lead singer of The Vamps, Bradley Simpson, came down-under on a solo tour to promote his new album The Panic Years. The 3 Australian dates were originally set for February but had been rescheduled for May after his 11 date UK tour. The Melbourne show was the first of the Australian leg and was held on 27^th May at Northcote Theatre with support from local musician, Jacob Fitzgerald and The Electric City. 

Jacob Fitzgerald and The Electric City are a rock band from Melbourne and featured in the first Hidden Playlist article back in October. I’ve been waiting to see Jacob live since I first listened to his music and it was worth the wait, he did not disappoint. It’s rare to find a band these days with pure rock ‘n’ roll energy and attitude but these guys have it, hopefully this means that roll ‘n’ roll will make a comeback soon. The second song that they performed, ‘Gun Shy‘, is my current favourite song and after listening to it on repeat for weeks, it felt so good to hear it live. I definitely recommend taking the time to listen to his music and seeing him at a show if you can, he’s going to go far.  

I am aware that Bradley Simpson only has the one album out, but I wasn’t expecting him to play every song. I don’t know any other artist that has done, but I wasn’t complaining because it might’ve been the only chance I had to hear some of these songs live. Bradley and his band, Eleanor on drums and Joey on guitar, entered the stage performing ‘Getting Clear‘, followed by ‘Picasso‘. 

Halfway through the show, Bradley joined the audience for ‘The Band’s Not Breaking Up‘, the people closest to him sat on the floor to help more people see him. He performed the song acoustically and the whole crowd stayed silent throughout it until he asked everyone to sing along, it was a beautiful moment which was respected by everybody who actually stayed quiet for this portion of the show. Bradley treated us to a cover of Jet‘s ‘Are You Gonna Be My Girl?‘ which had the crowd wild, myself included – I couldn’t not dance and sing along. During ‘Always Like This‘, he asked for everyone to put away their phones for some of the song so we could all be there in the moment, something which I’ve noticed more artists request recently. 

Bradley asked ‘Anyone in the crowd in their 20s? How’s it going?‘ There was a mixed response from the crowd, ‘Not great, not shit, a nice mix in there.’ Before performing ‘The Panic Years‘. The mixed response felt appropriate for the song. While talking about the show and asking if people were having a good time he said ‘If it’s not fine then I’ll have to come back to Melbourne and do it again… it’s not fine? Well, fuck… It will be fine.’ 

After the end of ‘Daisies‘, he fell off the stage but it was so graceful that I couldn’t tell if it was on purpose or not until he laughed about it and said, “If anyone has a video of that, delete it. No one needs to see that. My whole life flashed before my eyes.” Towards the end of the show the crowd bullied him and Joey, his guitarist, to do a shoey and commented on the ‘interesting aftertaste’. 

“I couldn’t be further away from home and I’m so grateful for you guys showing up tonight“.  

This show felt like a full circle moment for me for a number of reasons. First, the Northcote Theatre was the first venue I photographed over here in Australia and I feel as though I have come so far in these past 6 months. Second, Jacob Fitzgerald being in the first article of The Hidden Playlist back in October and now I’m 9 months into it and third, and most special to me is Bradley Simpson and The Vamps. 10 years ago, I was sneaking my camera into The Vamps shows back in the UK and their music and shows are what got me interested in music photography in the first place and without them, I wouldn’t be where I am now and I am so grateful for them. After 7 years of not seeing any of them live, I wasn’t sure what to expect but while watching the show, I felt the same feelings I felt all them years ago; loved, part of a community and hopeful about the future. Who knows, next time it may be the full band back in Melbourne.