While those who went to Splendour were recovering, those of us who missed out headed to the Metro to see The Vaccines. Unfortunately, I missed out on seeing Oh Mercy in what I’m sure would have been a dreamy set (damn you traffic!), but made it just in time to watch the stage set up for the headlining act.

Kicking off with “Blow It Up”, The Vaccines played a no-bullshit-just-rock set. Guitars and drums thrashed throughout as the lead singer swaggered charismatically around the stage. As lights shone down on the band angelically, church-like echoes signaled the commencement of “All In White”. The audience followed their leader in his chorus loyally, as they managed to with all songs.

Though The Vaccines got the crowd moving enthusiastically throughout with their racing sounds, “If You Wanna” caused them to lose it. A greying, middle-aged lady is inspiration to us all, as she stood in the center of the mosh, jumping, singing and clapping along more than anyone else I saw. Going into the more subdued and sober “Family Friend”, The Vaccines broke up the pace and gave the audience a break from moving after the bouncing and fast-paced “Wolf Pack”.

Leaving the stage following “Norgaad”, they did not return in spite of great applause. In a rare move, there was no “oh hey, we are doing a spontaneous encore because you’ve cheered us on, and we have conveniently left our most popular song out of the original set”. While some were left confused by The Vaccines not following convention – particularly after a notably short set of only 45 minutes - it was refreshing to see.