I am not really Vampire Weekend's biggest fan, so you may wonder why I went to this gig, given that I was going on my own having not found anyone else willing. I was wondering that too at the beginning of their set on a cold night in North London.
Well in part it was that they were playing at Alexandra palace which I can wait to and back. And its a gig.
And as I was on my own and not working I could get there early and bag a place at the front. Eventually on came the support act, an American band called Wallows, whom I really liked. An early part of their set was a song called Scrawny Motherfucker with a Cool Hairstyle, which I remember thinking at the time didn't seem entirely appropriate since the lead singer seemed neither scrawny nor in possession of a particularly notable hairstyle. Maternal relationships were hard to judge from the audience...
Anyway, I think they are good enough to want to listen to again. I quite like American indie bands.
Ok so much for the support. As I said I am not a superfan of Vampire Weekend. But after a couple of songs into their set I really began to enjoy their gig. So very glad I came.
Thing with Vampire Weekend (apart from the very cool name) is that they do have a quite distinct sound of their own. Prodigious guitar work, quirky clever songs that are not straightforward anthems. Maybe it is just I prefer straightforward anthems, but there is something slightly unsatisfactory about their tracks that I cannot put my finger on.
But the live act is an improvement on their recorded material. A lot of bands playing live extend their songs beyond their natural length. VW extended theirs but it didn't sound at all forced. The extra guitar embellishments all worked very well. And they really can play.
On top of that they come over as a nice bunch of lads, especially genial vocalist Ezra Koenig. And the lengthy encore included a mini request spot. Can't complain at value for money - it was a very long set.
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