A very enjoyable afternoon at the excellent Half Moon, Putney as my nephew Steve and I caught the melodic riffing rock of the current line up of The Vapors. The band had formed in Guildford in 1978 and I had originally seen them live at Poole Arts Centre (aka the Lighthouse) supporting The Jam on the classic ‘Setting Sons’ tour in November 1979. They went on to release the classic hit single ‘Turning Japanese’, and the albums ‘New Clear Days’ (1980) and ‘Magnets’ (1981).
I subsequently worked alongside frontman, writer and solicitor David Fenton at the MU main office in Clapham Road. It was a pleasure to meet him and his son, lead guitarist Danny, after the set.
The quartet had in fact reformed following an impromptu gig at the Half Moon in April 2016 and the revised line up has since released a third collection ’Together’ plus a follow-up, ‘Wasp In A Jar’, featuring the ear catching ‘Hit the ground running.’
Setlist:
Hit the ground running
Bunkers
News at Ten
Sunstroke
Somehow
Trains
In Babylon
Forever and ever
Galleries for guns
Waiting for the weekend
Jimmie Jones
Letter from Hiro
Turning Japanese
(Cold war, Nothing’s gonna stop us and Here comes the judge were on the setlist but cut due to time constraints).
