Vega Islington Academy 28-05-16














After a pre gig chat with Nick from Vega at the near by Hilton we returned and support act Psycho Kiss were already into their stride.

With the stage having 2 drum kits on it I felt a bit sorry for the 4 band members who were stood feet planted and no room to move.They did a great job in warming the crowd with their heavy riffing output but still had big melodic choruses from raspy voiced Helen Ceri Clarke and some very fine guitar soloing from Paul O'Brien who showed some amazing technique.
Songs included Warpaint,Home and the very heavy Fall and with a new album in the works one to keep an eye out for.

Vega have just released their superb new cd Who We Are and with this being a one off headline show amongst their UK tour as support to Magnum expectation was high and with the place rammed this was going to be special.

For a little under 90 minutes Vega showed all present that they can be one of the stars on the UK rock scene.

Here is what they played.

Explode
Kiss Of Life
Not There For You
Gonna Need Some Love Tonight
Every Little Monster
The Wild The Wierd The Wonderful
We Got It All
Stereo Messiah
White Knuckle Ride
Hurt So Bad
All Or Nothing
What The Hell
White Flag
Wherever We Are
Hands In The Air
Encores of Into The Wild
Saving Grace

From the moment they hit the stage the energy levels never dropped with their seemingly new found confidence and belief from the Magnum tour very visible.

Vega don't write songs they write anthems with some of the biggest choruses on the planet all ready to be sang back at them and tonight the crowd didn't disappoint.
As Nick said on the Magnum tour they have been the foreplay so this was The Shag!!

Explode did just that with Marcus Thurston's big guitar riff starting it all off before Dan Chantrey's drums kicked in and the place went nuts.

Nick Workman is a superb frontman and was in wonderful voice.Melodic with a lot of power and tone and a couple of lengthy notes he hit were off the scale.
Marcus's sort fiery guitar solo's were always spot on and some great second guitar and back up vocals from Michael Kew.
Apologies to the stand in keyboard player but I missed his name as he filled in very well after the recent birth of James Martin and Issa's baby.
His twin and Nick's partner in crime Tom on bass added to the fantastic backing vocals which are a feature of the band and take them way above so many band's.

Kiss Of Life their debut single from way back in 2010 was greeted like royalty and Nick's grin kept getting bigger at the sea of faces yelling back the words to him.
What a 1-2 start to a gig.

Gonna Need Some Love Tonight actually manages to top them both.Off last album Stereo Messiah with one of the biggest longest most joyous choruses of them all.I needed oxygen by the end as our voices soared into the London evening air.

Every Little Monster from the new cd got the crowd bouncing and singing while the live premiere of We Got It All showed their knack of writing the perfect 4 minute rock song.

Another newie and on its live debut was the cd closer Hurt So Bad which has plenty of woah woahs and is destined to be a live favourite for years to come with its huge build up pre chorus and woah woah outro and even only having been out for 2 weeks the crowd was word perfect.

Set closer Hands In The Air is an aerobic workout in itself with everyone throwing their Hands In The Air at Nick's bequest and singing as the whole place went nuts.If this atmosphere could be bottled and re opened when required the world would be a better place.Marcus got the chance for a lengthy solo in the outro and it will be good to maybe expand the solo's in the future as the man can play.

Returning for an encore with Into The Wild from the debut cd shows that the band have always written quality songs that revolve around a big chorus and then moving onto Saving Grace from the new cd to close the show.
A big bouncing riff heralds a song that shows off Nick's vocal melody in the verse before a huge chorus with plenty of backing vocals and a lengthy yeah yeah yo sing along in the outro that removed most of the crowd's voice for another day.

A simply fantastic gig from one of the UK's best melodic rock band's that shows their star ever ascending and with a little bit of luck and road work should see them get to the next level that their showmanship and quality songs deserve.









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