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Saturday, March 20, 2010
Vampire Weekend Show Review
Posted By Austen Diamond on March 20, 2010, 8:49 PM
The unoccupied cage to viewers' right seemed like the best option to witness Vampire Weekend and the crowed masses bob their heads. But, alas, nope.--- Swiftly, security guards told us that we would be kicked out if we stood on it again—the same cage that I've seen women in thongs and hose dry hump steel to throbbing bass. Maybe the guards are intimidated by the suppressed-nerd undertones of the show (myself included). After all, that's one of the appealing aspects of the band, right? They fearlessly embrace preppiness and make killer music, too.
I missed the first half of the show, arriving late, but was informed it mainly consisted of cuts from Contra. Starting earlier than I had expected, these prepsters must need a full night's sleep. What I did see was mostly impressive, from the stage effects to the album-quality of the songs.
Overhead were stage effects consisting of chandeliers (no, really), that at times looked like elegant decor and at others lit up in time with the backing lights and the exotic guitar. The hollow body Epiphone Sheraton II's wistful sounds make other guitars envious. Koenig's playing isn't perfect and he doesn't shred, but his hoppy triads are infectious. That said, no one musician stands out, but that doesn't matter because the simple tunes, infused with African and Latin flares, are lapped up by fans.
Connecting to the audience at one point, Koenig yelled, "This one's for the college students," then playing "College," which starkly transitioned into "Oxford Comma." Another highlight was "Diplomat's Son." Essentially, they wiped through their two albums pretty quickly. You can't play too many songs when you've only put out two albums. They left the stage, ending their set before 10.
Returning as the crowd chanted "One more song! (repeat)," Koenig told them to ask for more, if that's what they wanted. He then pleaded the audience that a song about architecture wouldn't be that bad, it's easy to dance to and only two minutes; they then launched into "Mansard Roof." Moving into "Horchata" and ending with what they said was their farewell song, "Cape Cod Kwasa Kwasa."
The only blight of the show was Koenig's tender voice began to falter and lost its crispness by the encore. However, they didn't disappoint the sold out crowd, who were willingly stacked on top of one another, only leaving room for dancing similar to pogo-ing, which is perfectly fitting.
I missed the first half of the show, arriving late, but was informed it mainly consisted of cuts from Contra. Starting earlier than I had expected, these prepsters must need a full night's sleep. What I did see was mostly impressive, from the stage effects to the album-quality of the songs.
Overhead were stage effects consisting of chandeliers (no, really), that at times looked like elegant decor and at others lit up in time with the backing lights and the exotic guitar. The hollow body Epiphone Sheraton II's wistful sounds make other guitars envious. Koenig's playing isn't perfect and he doesn't shred, but his hoppy triads are infectious. That said, no one musician stands out, but that doesn't matter because the simple tunes, infused with African and Latin flares, are lapped up by fans.
Connecting to the audience at one point, Koenig yelled, "This one's for the college students," then playing "College," which starkly transitioned into "Oxford Comma." Another highlight was "Diplomat's Son." Essentially, they wiped through their two albums pretty quickly. You can't play too many songs when you've only put out two albums. They left the stage, ending their set before 10.
Returning as the crowd chanted "One more song! (repeat)," Koenig told them to ask for more, if that's what they wanted. He then pleaded the audience that a song about architecture wouldn't be that bad, it's easy to dance to and only two minutes; they then launched into "Mansard Roof." Moving into "Horchata" and ending with what they said was their farewell song, "Cape Cod Kwasa Kwasa."
The only blight of the show was Koenig's tender voice began to falter and lost its crispness by the encore. However, they didn't disappoint the sold out crowd, who were willingly stacked on top of one another, only leaving room for dancing similar to pogo-ing, which is perfectly fitting.
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