I Have been to a few gigs and none of them have ever started this late.
Doors opened at 7.00pm so we arrived at about 8.30pm so we could get a decent place to stand and actually catch ‘Vampire Weekend‘. At 9.00pm a band came on stage and started to play, the venue was packed out and so we assumed that this was ‘Vampire Weekend’ however I had seen live them 2 days before this gig and was convinced that the sound coming from the speakers was not that of the band we came to see; as soon as the vocals hit it was clear that we were watching the support band ‘White Williams’. I was particularly tired and so wasn’t really listening to the support but from what I heard they weren’t too bad.
Come 10pm, the lights dimmed and ‘Vampire Weekend’ took to the stage.
Opening with ‘Campus’ they stormed through every song on their album including two brand new tracks both untitled. Frontman Ezra Koenig continuously talked between songs to the audience and mentioned how much the band enjoy playing in the UK, especially London. The crowd were great, ranging from 15 to 50 years old, all belting the lyrics back to the stage.
Ezra really involved the crowd throughout the gig, during ‘One (Blakes Got A New Face)’ during the whole song he would sing the first line “Blakes Got A New Face” and then the audience sang back “Blakes got A New Face” in a higher pitch voice.
Their most famous track ‘A-Punk’ went down well along with ‘Walcott’ where the crowd really started to go for it. I found myself jumping from half way point in the venue to the very front, being hit and pushed but still dancing about and enjoying myself.
Electric Ballroom was the last date on their UK tour until they hit the festivals this summer.
The band promised that next time they come to London on-tour that they would have some sort of robot onstage which I’m very much looking forward to seeing.
This band are an absolute must see live. Try and catch them this summer at festivals such as Glastonbury & The Great Escape Festival.
Buy their debut album ‘Vampire Weekend’ on XL Records now.
JLP
[download#10]
