Hellooo! On Saturday I went over to Sheffield's Fly DSA Arena with my bestie Lyndsey to see The Vamps! What an amazing night! Right, let's start at the beginning! I booked these tickets months ago for £40.20 each in Block A, Row 17, Seats 5 and 6! As you can see on the seating plan, (we're the little dash) we thought we'd get a decent view of the guys when they were at the end of the runway which we definitely did! However, I must say that on the seating plan it looks like the runway kind of comes from each side of the stage and wraps around the WOW pits when in reality, it was one long runway that went straight down the middle.
When we got to the arena, I think we were queuing for around half an hour before we got through the bag and ticket checks on the doors. However, it felt a little disorganised as our ticket said to go through red door but we were then sent to green door and then once we got to green door, were sent back to red door so I'm not really sure what happened there. Anyway! Once we got in, Lyndsey went to grab a couple of drinks for us while I went to get merch for both of us as we were starting to run out of time! The merch prices and everything can be seen here however what's not on here are the t-shirts and wristbands that are unique to each venue and £10 tour programmes! The venue specific t-shirts were £25 and the wristbands were £6 and I really liked having unique merchandise for the Sheffield show!
Now onto the fun part! Once we got to our seats we had the usual 'omg we're way closer than we thought' conversation and then within a few minutes the first support act, :PM came on! I really liked this band and had no idea they were on the support list! Next up was another surprise! HRVY appeared on stage who I've known of for a couple of years but had NO idea he was performing! He has such a great voice and he sounded effortless even when doing dance routines! Next up on the support list was New Hope Club who were also really good! Everyone was dancing along and they really got the crowd going throughout their set! Finally, was Jacob Sartorius who seemed to divide the audience. I'm not going to lie, most people sat down or even went to the toilet/merch etc. In my opinion, New Hope Club should have been the top support act with Jacob further down the list as I don't think he really suited the show. I shall leave it there!
Next up, the moment we were all waiting for! THE VAMPS! With this being the first show of the tour, we had no idea of the stage layout or set list or anything like that and I was blown away with the intro! So normally at arenas, there's a huge screen either side of the stage so everyone can see the acts. Well on this tour, The Vamps have got one continuous screen that curves around the back of the stage and it looked INCREDIBLE. They had a black curtain covering the middle section of the screen and as their intro began, the curtain dropped and the screen looked like stars floating by and everyone just lost it! It looked amazing!
The Vamps opened their set with Staying Up which I have to say I thought was a bit of a rogue choice as it's a song they're featured on rather than one of their own however, it was a strong, upbeat start to the show and everyone loved it so I think it worked well! Last Night and Hands followed along with good old Can We Dance. Next up was Middle Of The Night which I LOVE and they definitely didn't disappoint even though Brad started singing the second verse first by mistake! It started as a more laid back version of the song which I loved before kicking into the studio version towards the end and it was SO GOOD!
Just My Type followed which is from their new album and I loved it! I loved the vibe of it and it definitely felt like The Vamps but kind of more grown up if that makes sense! Personal was next on the list where Maggie Lindemann joined The Vamps to sing her parts in the song and also to sing her track Pretty Girl. I thought she was pretty good but she seemed a bit nervous which was understandable with it being the first show of the tour!
Wild Heart followed which is another one of my favourites from The Vamps and I loved it yet again! Next was Hair Too Long, The Vamps' next single (which comes out tomorrow!) which was SO GOOD! I've had the chorus stuck in my head literally all week and I can't wait to hear the full studio version! I also liked how they mixed older songs with their new stuff which is something I wanted to talk about quickly! The Vamps seem to be getting a lot of hate for having too many old songs in their set but I felt like it was a good balance. There were 6 songs from Meet The Vamps, 1 from Wake Up, 4 from Night & Day (Night Edition), 3 from Night & Day (Day Edition) and 3 'other' tracks. Fair enough, Wake Up could have been a bit better represented but they played plenty of newer tracks too and they can't play everything! I feel like everyone's being a bit harsh on them when it was still an amazing show!
Anyway! Next in the show was a mash up of Marshmello and Anne-Marie's FRIENDS, Dua Lipa's New Rules and Camila Cabello's Havana which I LOVED! Following this, Brad, Connor and James exited the stage leaving Tristan to perform his drum solo! I love that he always gets his moment to shine on tour as there's so much talent in this band that deserves to be shown off! Before the show, The Vamps had a Twitter poll to determine what song would be played acoustically by Connor and James and for Sheffield, it was Girls On TV! Somebody To You was next which is another song from The Vamps which I LOVE and it was SO GOOD yet again! Finally, they performed Oh Cecilia and I feel like they could have ended on something stronger but everyone was still singing and dancing along till the end!
After the usual few minutes, the guys returned to the stage for their encore! They came back with a bang in the form of Wake Up which was incredible! I love that song so much and they were SO GOOD! Have you seen a theme yet? Basically The Vamps are amazing and everyone needs to go see them! Same To You was next which is one of my favourites from the Night Edition of Night & Day and it was another amazing performance! The night ended with All Night which I thought was a pretty solid ending to the show and I loved it! Oh and we had an amazing view! The only problem we had was when Brad was on the kind of side bits at the end of the runway, the spotlight following him would be directly in our eyes every now and again but that didn't really cause much of a problem, we could still see everything! I'd definitely recommend going in that sort of area as when the guys were at the end of the runway we were the equivalent of third row as we were on the third row from the back and it was SO GOOD.
I honestly don't know how Brad gets through the shows! His singing was amazing from start to finish and he never seems to stand still! Aside from when he's playing guitar or piano I guess! He's the perfect frontman for The Vamps and he really knows how to put on a show! How does he have so much energy?! Connor and James also have incredible voices and are so talented on bass and guitar! Finally, Tristan is an amazing drummer and as I said, I like that Tristan, Connor and James get their chances to showcase their talent!
Overall it was an unforgettable night and I loved it from start to finish! I went to see The Vamps when they toured with Union J supporting them a few years ago but this time was just on another level! I don't know why I didn't go to any of their other tours but now I really wish I had! I also love that they always make sure to have plenty of cheap tickets so everyone can afford to go and the stage always includes a runway of some sort to allow them to get closer to the fans and vice versa. I did wish they'd used the end of the runway a bit more as I've seen in the past Brad's had a piano there or Tristan's drum kit or something but it was still an amazing show. Oh and the pyrotechnics! They were so good! Sparks, smoke and all sorts! And I loved the giant screen it felt so immersive especially where we were sat with the way it was curved and I just really liked it! I still can't get over how amazing the show was and how talented The Vamps are! I filmed bits and that's where my pictures from but Lyndsey filmed a lot more and you can see them on her YouTube channel here!
I wanna go again so bad! I'm definitely getting tickets for the next tour!
Thanks for reading! Sophie
