Q&A: Vacations Kicks Off Their US Tour with a Sold Out Show in Los Angeles
IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME COMING - and it was so worth the wait. Australian band Vacations has finally made it to the US for their 32 date tour across the country. Kicking things off in Los Angeles by selling out the iconic Roxy, it’s safe to say they’re starting it all off with a bang. Though grateful for the love they’ve gotten online, as seen by the nearly six million monthly listeners a month on Spotify, the band hasn’t had the chance to see this support translate to an in-person setting. Ready to play their tracks live, new and old, Vacations is excited to say the least to finally connect with their fans in a live setting.
Joined by bands Harmless and Dreamgirl across the tour, the tour provides for a night of talent and warm energy. Opening the evening with “Moving Out”, fans immediately let out a collective scream, showing just how eager they’ve been to see the band. While it was no surprise to hear the outpour of support for popular tracks like “Young” and “Telephones”, the energy remained high for newer tracks like “Lavender”. Members Campbell Burns, Jake Johnson, Nate Delizzotti and Joseph Van Lier could be seen beaming throughout each track, and were clearly taken back by the overwhelming support of the crowd, who sang along to every song. Complete with a cover of Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me To The Moon”, Vacation’s set managed to keep the audience tuned in to every last note.
We got a chance to chat with some of the band shortly before their show in LA to hear their thoughts on being back on the road, finally making it to America and more. Read below for our interview and make sure to catch them in a city near you.
LUNA: This is the first date of the tour and it's been a long time coming. How does it feel to finally be in LA playing a sold out show at The Roxy?
BURNS: It’s been 4 years in the making. It doesn't feel real you know? Especially after the pandemic and everything, to finally be here and to have a good team around us and for it to be a headline tour where everything is professional is crazy. It’s just not what we’re used to because we’ve had a more DIY experience and now it’s all actually very legit.
LUNA: How’s will that be affecting your stage performance?
BURNS: We’ve only played one show that was a test run on the Gulf Coast, and it was great. We had backing tracks, and in-ears so I could hear everything quite clearly. It was very professional. For this first show, I have no expectations - all I know is it's sold out and that’s amazing. It’s difficult for me to visualize that many people in a room. I think the most amount of people we’ve ever played to for a headline is 300. So to play to more than that to that size across the country.
LUNA: How do you think time all this time the past like two years will affect your performances
BURNS: We dropped Forever in Bloom and then the pandemic hit. Then I thought that the last thing I want to do right now was Vacations stuff so I got really into production and started working with some writing friends. Whilst everyone else is getting really into work and just trying to get through a pandemic, we as Vacations didn't really get much of an opportunity to get together and perform, which is the crazy thing because this is now our first big show in years. After soundcheck, it felt quite natural but to be performing in front of humans is a big difference.
LUNA: Do you guys have any, like pre-show rituals that you want to start with this tour?
JOHNSON: My current pre-show ritual is to have a bit of a stretch beforehand. I have arthritis in my wrist, which is a problem as I’m a bass player. So I've got to stretch that one out, and Nate started doing that as well. Then I usually just put my earphones in and start playing along to the set.
I think I'm going to start trying to get together like a group huddle. I feel like that'd be really nice. These are the biggest shows that we've ever done, it’s huge for us. So I think a team huddle pep-up is a nice ritual to get going.
LUNA: What song are you guys most excited to play live?
BURNS: I’m excited to play “Telephones” because it's a bit different live. I’ve only just figured out the lead guitar for it because I can’t play the chords live and sing at the same time. So I just started playing around and that’s really fun.
JOHNSON: I reckon it's probably “Telephones” for me as well. It has all these backing track and is complex, so we didn’t know how we would do it live. But, we've just seen it become our internet crowd’s favorite song, so it's cool to play an older song that we've never done before.
LUNA: You mentioned that with “Telephones” it translates a little bit different live. Is that something when you guys are making a song, you're thinking about how it's going to be in a live setting?
BURNS: That’s a funny question for me because as I've honed my skills as a producer and a songwriter for other people, that's something I like to think about to help coach them through the sessions. What do you think when you're playing it live? So now, I actually have to ask myself…I’ve only recently started to think a little bit more critically about it.
LUNA: What element of live music and tour did you miss the most?
BURNS: I think all the in-between moments and just hanging out with everybody. Seeing the sights and being able to travel together is amazing.
JOHNSON: We’ve become like old men on a porch sharing past glory stories, so we need some more. Making interstate friends and now its international friends as well has become really cool. We've only met Harmless so far, but they're all incredible people.
BURNS: Chris, the drummer from Harmless actually played in Vacations the last time we came to America…We had to get a quick band together for a tour and Chris was in it now. So here we are now four years later all together, very full circle.
LUNA: What intentions do you guys have for the rest of the tour?
JOHNSON: I just want to see the fans!
BURNS: I want to see their reactions, especially the newest songs. We haven't a chance to play any of it because of the pandemic.
JOHNSON: We've had a lot of people being like, “This is incredible for you. You've got massive streaming numbers!" which is great, and it genuinely does mean something. But I think it means something different than when you physically can see the fans in the crowd listening to the music.
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