Vampire Weekend at Carling Academy, Sheffield, October 22

Tonight rumour has it the bouncers at the Academy are counting down to the fight of the night. Apparently each date of Vampire Weekend's tour has been riddled with crowd breakouts- yet when did this summer induced band appeal to the coffee drinking, football crowd audience? Tonight is sold out, and while the band appear onstage at nine o'clock it is questionable as to what they are going to fill the next hour and a half with.
Having released their debut album which barely tallies over half an hour, the band have little to deliver. Belting through 'Mansard Roof' the room erupts as lead singer Ezra dances around the stage, simply using his guitar as the partner to his gliding motions. He's keen to tell us it's the band's first time in Sheffield and quickly grasps onto the Yorkshire vibe of the evening (unlike most American groups) before zipping onto the next song. 'A- Punk' and 'Oxford Comma' both get an early airing as the band continue to dance about the stage. Bassist Chris moves with the pretence of one day joining Green Day's Mike Dirnt onstage while keyboardist Rostam delivers his parts with ultimate precision.
Then after a quick 'Cape Cod, Kwassa Kwassa' encore they're gone a mere 45 minutes later. After playing all the songs from their debut album and a few B sides it's hard to complain. It may be the source of one too many fights around the country, but for us it's a shrug of the shoulders and an early night.
3 comments:
How did they grasp the Yorkshire vibe? Flat caps?
No fights in Brum that I could see, must be rough Northerners. Also is it just me or have Vampire Weekend built up a suprisingly devoted fanbase with just one album?
A couple of girls at the gig I was at filled in the lyrics to an unreleased song with a perfectly rendered duet of 'You can call me Al' by Paul Simon! Who would have thought the band would go even further down the Graceland route?
You forgot to mention the Fleetwood Mac cover.
Yes indeed. I was quite disappointed by it though, it didn't particularly stand out!
And no, flat caps were not worn. I was surprised actually. The Academy is nearly 2,500 and they're selling venues like that out every night. I didn't think they were that popular.
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