No band in the past year has gotten as much hype as Vampire Weekend. Even before their album came out, music blogs were raving about their style of music which they call “Upper West Side Soweto.” (If you haven’t read what that means yet, I’m not going to explain it.) The self-titled album by the four recent Columbia graduates, which came out on January 29, didn’t disappoint. The Voice loved it. Pitchfork loved it. The New York Times loved it. Vampire Weekend even made their network television debut on Letterman last week.
The good news is, infectious, collegiate Afro-pop is as good live as it is recorded. In their much anticipated show at the Rock and Roll Hotel last night, Vampire Weekend made their way through every song off the album, the twinkly keyboard parts and catchy guitar hooks just so. Highlights included Oxford Comma (who knew prepsters listened to Lil’ Jon?), M79 (”This is about a grenade launcher we have that goes through Central Park,” lead singer Ezra Koenig said), and One (the call and response that sounds questionable on the album was one of the best moments of the night). The band looked the part too—Koenig wore a blue and white striped button-down, taking off his loafers a few songs into the set and keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij wore a puffy blue vest and his trademark scarf. The Rock and Roll Hotel neglected to pump the AC high enough, so when the final note of Walcott rang out, the band exited the stage with sweat dripping off of them.
Full set list after the jump.
Mansard Roof
I Stand Corrected
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
Bryn
Boston
M79
A-Punk
One
The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance
[An new song Koenig said was untitled—their set list calls it "Giant"]
Campus/Oxford Comma
[Plus a song or two for the encore including Walcott.]
Photos by Sam Sweeney, Blog Editor
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