Vega4 preview

Vega4
Metro, Chicago
Thursday, January 25, 2007

London-based Vega4 are sort of an international conglomerate (Irish, Canadian, and New Zealand-ish? -er? -ese? -ous?) and a right cocky bunch. In their bio, frontman Johnny McDaid says things like “It’s so hard to describe our sound.” Quick — somebody hand this guy a Snow Patrol record.

But the essence of Vega4 isn’t how much “Traffic Jam” sounds like “Chocolate” as much as is the scope of You And Others (Original Signal), tipped as a breakout album for 2007. Yes, the influence of U2 and Coldplay is all over it, but this album is reaching for the stratosphere, packed with uppercut hooks and ghostly atmospherics. There are times, a la “Let Go,” when it sounds like there are 20 McDaids singing at once. Bruce Gainsford’s guitar rips whole chapters out of The Edge textbook, heavily underlining the sections on reverb. Each soaring chorus wants just one thing (love) and the rest of the world can just disappear while McDaid details his every inadequacy. This band are going to need an arena someday just to contain it all — not just their big heads.

Vega4 open for Augustana.

— Kevin Keegan

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly