No-one else does glamorous indie rock and roll quite like The Vaccines.

★★★★☆ (4/5)

When The Vaccines emerged onto the UK music scene with their debut album in 2011 they immediately landed themselves in no-band’s land. Pop music was in a transitional phase with the girls (Rhianna, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Adele) on top and the folk rock revival (Mumford & Sons et al.) gaining momentum. Guitar bands were already “so two-thousand and late”. Arriving at the wake of landfill indie to find the buffet cleared and the chairs stacked, The Vaccines had no business hanging around. And yet…they delivered their first two LPs with such a moreish blend of earnestness and - ironically - irony that they almost single handedly revived the genre. Thirteen years later it’s hard to say whether the longevity and success of The Vaccines is an underdog story, or if contempt for their particular brand of English lad rock is merely a play in the culture wars waged between those Millennials utilising their university degrees in gainful employment and those who are not. It doesn’t really matter either way. What matters is that they’re still doing what they do, and doing it incredibly well.

In support of their latest studio album, Pick-Up Full of Pink Carnations, the band brought a scintillating energy to their sold out show at Glasgow's iconic Barrowland Ballroom. Their 75 minute performance encompassed an unrelenting 21-song set that made the two opening acts - Divorce and Teen Jesus & the Jean Teasers - seem like a completely separate gig, on a whole other night of the month, such was the intensity and immersive quality of The Vaccines frenetic musical joyride. Each of their six albums was honoured and, as is the measure of any decent live act, the songs cohered seamlessly over the course of the set. One could argue that The Vaccines’ biggest weakness is that their songs all kind of sound the same but the flaw in this thinking is that it’s actually a fantastic sound. Tonally, there’s not a lot of diversity but each and every song contains a top tier melodic hook and at least one indisputably relatable lyrical truth.

Articulating highlights among the no-filler set is super subjective: Wetsuit sounds more poignant than ever; Discount De Kooning (Last One Standing) offers a cathartic, jubilant singalong; singer Justin Young in his element, effortlessly windmilling his way through Headphones Baby is something to behold and has the crowd frothing. It’s all delightfully inconsequential. With an average bpm somewhere around 140 the show is over breathlessly quick. A four-song encore that ends with an entirely crowd-sung Norgaard underscores the need for both fresh air and levity.

“The longer we do this the luckier we feel” declares Young and in the current music industry landscape it’s easy to believe him. No-one does it quite like The Vaccines, anymore.