THE VACCINES

Good Vibe Injection

The smell of bug spray wafted across the crowd on a cool breeze, as The Vaccines eased into their Friday afternoon show with “Handsome” from their new album, English Graffiti. Vocalist Justin Hayward-Young’s smooth vocals and sultry moves (including a swagger down the catwalk—a welcome addition to the Green Stage—and lying down on the stage floor as he sang) held the crowd’s attention as they swayed along with him. The band slowly, but steadily increased the tempo as the show continued; moving on to “Wrecking Bar (Ra Ra Ra)” and the slightly mid-90s Addams Family-esque (i.e. spooky but charming) “Ghost Town”. “Dream Lover” was another highlight, and brought more sexy moves from vocalist Justin.

Though it seems almost wrong to consider moderation a good thing when it comes to a rock band, with The Vaccines that’s not the case. The easy to sing choruses are perfect for the Fuji Rock crowd—there’s no need to memorize any complicated English vocab to enjoy just singing along and having a good time.

Their performance would have made Goldilocks weep with joy: it wasn’t too rambunctious, but not too slow either… it was just right. The only way it could have been better? Either a Sunday afternoon timeslot for even more chill time, and a beer.

As The Vaccines steadily turned up the volume, their biggest crowd pleasers were the poppier “Minimal Affection”, the slightly staccato “20/20”, and the one that topped them all, “If You Wanna”, which had everyone jumping—and even earned a crowd surfer, who was promptly escorted away. The rest of us enjoyed the remainder of the show… in moderation.