Having watched The Vamps on YouTube in January 2013, I’ve been following them for quite a long time.
So when the announcement came that they were going to be doing playing in UK Arenas as part of their 2015 World Tour, I was a little excited to say the least…
ROUND 1 – GLASGOW, APRIL 17TH
Opening night of the UK tour. Capacity? 13,000. I’ve never been to the opening night of a tour before, so for my first time to be at my favourite bands show was pretty special. With support from Swedish band ‘The Fooo Conspiracy’, new American band ‘The Tide’ and British boyband ‘Union J’, the audience were very much ready for the boys to take to the stage. Although it sounds like a ‘cliche’ I’m always at my happiest during a concert- being in the presence of your favourite people with thousands of others who feel the same way is an unbeatable feeling. The Vamps always have so much energy to create an amazing experience for everyone in the audience- even those who are at the back of the venue. Their stage presence and of course musical talent was top quality and as a whole I couldn’t have asked for a better experience of my favourite bands show. They absolutely smashed every song on the set list as usual, mixing originals such as Hurricane and Risk It All with covers- My Chemical Romance ‘Teenagers’ and a YouTube Medley consisting of Mark Ronson ‘Uptown Funk’ , Taylor Swift ‘Shake It Off’ and Miley Cyrus ‘We Can’t Stop’. Each member also had his solo, Tristan doing what he does best and going hard at it on the drums, Connor covering Sum 41s ‘In Too Deep’, James singing his original ‘Move My Way’ and Brad bringing everyone to tears with ‘Another World’. All too quickly the gig was finished and it was time for the painfully slow 2 and a half journey home began- but this wasn’t the end of my Vamps 2015 tour experiences..
ROUND 2 – NEWCASTLE, MAY 4TH
No words will ever be enough to tell how wonderful this day was. So you know those pictures that always seem to appear on Twitter and Instagram of people posing with your favourite celebrities, and you think to yourself- ‘Wow, I wish that’d happen to me some day’..
Well, on this day, it happened to me.
Way back on October 16th, 2014 myself and my friend were anxiously waiting to see if her Mam had succeeded in getting us Wow Pit tickets. We weren’t disappointed. To begin with, she decided to play a joke on me. “I’m so sorry” at that moment my heart dropped, even though internally I had a feeling that she may have been joking. Thankfully, a few seconds later another text came through. “WE’RE SEEING THE VAMPS FRONT ROW”. Safe to say keeping my cool whilst sat on a train to Liverpool wasn’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done. As the months dragged by, our excitement grew and grew and we formed a Facebook groupchat with Anya and Lucy, who my friend Leah had met previously. This was the birth of Newcastle ‘Richard’ Squad. The day was coming closer and closer and our Squad was beginning to expand.
After what seemed like an eternity, the day finally came. I woke to the deafening sound of my alarm clock at 4am- usually this would earn an immediate hit on the snooze button before I fell back into a deep sleep. But not today. After 2 hours of stressing and making sure I had all the concert necessities- a fully charged phone, money and of course the ‘gifts’ I had ready to throw on stage(Leah had the concert tickets). My taxi drew up on time, and I headed towards Carlisle train station- thankfully my taxi driver was in a very cheery mood and was even singing Can We Dance once I’d told him what my plans were for the day! As I walked into the station I saw Leah and we had such a fab hug- reuniting with one of your best friends after months is always amazing!
After what felt like one of the longest train journeys in the world we were eventually in Newcastle! Firstly, we met up with some of the girls from the chat (the others were already at the hotel) we grabbed a quick Starbucks before making our way up there to join them.
I’d never experienced such an amazing atmosphere like the one outside the hotel. We were all so excited to be with each other- and probably enjoyed playing celebrity heads more than we should have. Before long, hotel security began putting up rope barriers- we knew what this meant! Everyone literally sprinted across the road to the hotel entrance and formed a somewhat orderly queue- and that’s when James McVey came outside, ready to go for a gym session. He slowly made his way along the line, and was eventually at the girl next to me. Phone at the ready, I coudn’t believe I was about to speak to James McVey for the first time ever. Or so I thought. He stopped there, quickly posing with the girl on the OTHER side of me, before apologizing and saying that he had to leave now. He told me that he was sorry and promised to come back. Obviously, my initial reaction was that I was gutted- but my spirits were immediately lifted by seeing how happy everyone else was. At this point, we got some nice photos with each other.
After more gossiping and getting to know everyone better, James reappeared. This time, I was lucky enough to get my first James hug and photo- which I’ll be eternally grateful for.
By this point, everyone was getting anxious whether or not the rest of the band would come out and say hello before they left for sound check. We managed to distract ourselves with more gossip and chat, time was passing so quickly and then a tour bus pulled up.
After watching a tour bus sit in a stationary position for what felt like an eternity the security began putting up the barriers again. After my disappointment the first time, I couldn’t let that happen again. we literally sprinted across- I don’t think I’ve ever ran so fast in my life- we got at the front of the barriers and were ready for them to come outside. After waiting a while we started to think that maybe this had been a distraction technique and they were going to drive away without stopping at all. Thankfully, this assumption was wrong.
James was first to come out to see people, and this time I got a photo that I half like!
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| #model |
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| James McVey- 14.58 |
Connor was next to come outside, and the girl next to me decided to tell him how amazing he smelled- he really did! I got a really nice hug from Connor and also managed to get my friend Rosie a VM- which feels equally as good as meeting him myself.
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| Connor Ball- 15:02 |
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| Selfie Game #onfleek |
Next up was Tristan. He wasn’t stopping for as many photos as the others, but luckily I managed to get a quick selfie with him.
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| Selfies! |
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| Tristan Evans-15:05 |
Finally, Brad came out. Usually I’m not one for making a particular fuss over who is my favourite, but when your favourite is stood right in front of you it’s easier said than done. After I’d got my photo I somehow plucked up the courage to ask for a hug- of course I embarrassed myself- “Please can I please have a hug please?” thankfully, Brad didn’t seem to be fazed by this and just giggled before responding with “Of course love” before wrapping his arms around me and giving me the most rib crushing hug I’ve ever had- not than I’m complaining! The hug was made complete with Brad rubbing my back- and a quick “See you later”.
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| Bradley Will Simpson- 15:09 |
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| Smile! |
As if all that excitement wasn’t enough, we still had the show to come!
————————SHOW TIME!————————
As we entered Wow Pit, the reality of how close I was actually going to be to my favourite band hit me. Time passed really quickly and before we knew it Union J were on their last song, having pulled the support section to a close after Luke Friend and The Tide. The interval went surprisingly quickly and before I knew it, the lights went down and the boys came running on stage.The night was made even better when one of our groupchat (Newcastle Dick Squad’) girls(Emily Hutchinson) got picked for #OnStageWithTheVamps ! She got hugs from all 4 (By this point very sweaty) Vamps, and gave a shoutout to our groupchat- Brad’s response was that this was a family show, and Tris renamed us ‘Newcastle Richard Squad’.
All too soon the day came to an end and it was time to go home, but I can't thank everyone enough for how good the day was.
ROUND 3- BIRMINGHAM, MAY 8TH
As much as I’d loved the idea of going to Birmingham for the closing night of the UK Arena tour, it just wasn’t possible. Or so I thought.
March 17th, I received an email from Claire’s Accessories telling me that I’d won their competition for tickets and a meet and greet with the band. Me? I never win things like this- the biggest prize I’d won until this point was a voucher at a Body Shop Party when I was 9! Once the reality hit me, plans were put in place and the countdown began.
My other tour dates whizzed by and before I knew it the morning came and I was sat on the train to Birmingham. When we first arrived we went for lunch in the city centre before browsing through a couple of shops(usually I’d be rummaging through every rail in sight, but my mind was elsewhere this day.
Upon arriving back at the hotel, I got changed into my outfit for the show, and then caught a train out to The Crowne Plaza Hotel on the other side of the city where we were meeting the girls who worked for Claire’s, as well as the other competition winners. When we got there we walked into the middle of a cocktail party- not ideal when you’re dressed for a concert. It took explanations to 4 different members of staff before we were finally sent in the right direction to join everyone. The ‘pre event’ was filled with nibbles, gossip, quizzes and of course Vamps music on full blast. We then walked over to the venue (across a VERY unstable floating bridge- we practically walked on water)- and waited outside before one of The Vamps team came to bring us backstage where the boys were doing the meet and greet.
When it was our turn to go up, we were greeted by smiles and hellos from the band, before James asked me if I wanted them to pose a certain way- I had one in mind so I explained and Brad responded with ‘Of course we can love’ causing my heart to totally melt. Con didn’t fully understand but Brad explained it to him and we were quickly in position. I asked Brad for a quick hug once the photo had been taken- which he was willing to give but of course security tried to ruin it. Thankfully Brad wasn’t taking that and hugged me extra tightly, and I whispered ‘Thank you so much I love you’, and he whispered back ‘Awh I love you more’. Sadly all good things must come to an end and I had to leave the meet and greet- but I was still in such high spirits after what had happened- plus the show was still to come!
We took our seats for the show and as much as I’d prepared myself for this night, the small ounce of ‘I can get through this without flooding the arena with my tears’ had gone and I was 110% not ready.
The support slots flew by and once again it was time for the boys to take to the stage. The intro video flashed up on the screens and the arena erupted in a roar of screams from fans.
The show had many highlights- including the stage invasions which took place during James and Connors solos, plus the Uptown Funk cover(look them up on YouTube- trust me, you won’t be disappointed). Another highlight of the show was when Brad announced that the bands Dads were going to be taking to the stage- sure enough, they did- miming a performance of One Directions ‘What Makes You Beautiful’.
Birmingham tour date was a magical experience and I’d do it all again in a heartbeat if I had the opportunity.
