By Lawrence Poole

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Brixton Academy, Saturday 19 February 2011

The annual NME Awards Tour has proved a reliable springboard with extra zip for a plethora of acts since its inception in the heady days of Britpop in 1995. In recent years The Killers, Florence and the Machine, Glasvegas, The Cribs and Arctic Monkeys are just a few of the acts to have spilled off the weekly music bible's live production line. There is cause for caution too though, The Automatic, Mumm-Ra and Joe Lean & the Jing Jang Jong heard the death knell for their careers soon after departing the sweaty NME tour bus for the last time.

Two of the latest acts hoping to fall well and truly into the former camp are The Vaccines and Everything Everything. Rounding off a frenetic 13-date jaunt to all four corners of the UK, London quartet The Vaccines did their best to kickstart the wrap party in style. Garlanded by talking heads in the media for months, if the weighty expections for the forthcoming debut LP, cheekily entitled What Did You Expect from The Vaccines?, are hanging heavy you wouldn't know it watching them in lusty live form at Brixton Academy. Led by the dexterous Justin Young, current single, 'Post Break-Up Sex', 'Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra)' and a sublime rendition of future-hit-in-the-making, 'If You Wanna', all help point to big things in 2011 for the group's youthful brand of alt-rock.Manchester-based

Lancashire, Kent and Newcastle mash-up Everything Everything bring extra polish and variety to proceedings with an assured, enlivened and eye-catching display.Their debut album, Man Alive, hit the shelves last August and tonight the four-piece delight the fresh-faced masses in a mood to party by airing the majority of it. Blending choirboy-like harmonies with ripper keyboard melodies and super-tight percussion on 'My KZ, UR BF' and 'Schoolin', which soar on the back of a disco-tinged lights show, Everything Everything show just why their sterling live reputation proceeds them. Their thrill at playing a space as big as Brixton is evident, but frontman Jonathan Higgs and co undoubtedly belong in such esteemed surroundings.