Vampire Weekend at the Hordern Pavillion 8/1/14 - Live Review

Donning inside jokes and their hearts on their sleeves – Undying support for frontman Ezra Koenig’s once serious rap band L’Homme Run, his remarkably luminous tweets plastered on shirts with humble iron on transfer paper.

Vampire Weekend’s first two albums equated to a quintessentially fun live show and now in the spirit of critically acclaimed Modern Vampires Of The City, it encourages a more subtle, perhaps darker depth to seep into an already solid performance, in line with the sonic shift of the album itself.

Segues within the well balanced set were doted upon amongst a crowd of teenagers who are well acquainted with popular culture - LMFAO’s “Shots”, placed between the unlikely Horchata and Everlasting Arms was in pure terms a victory; the thud-thud- thud from Campus into Oxford Comma a delight.

It is Vampire Weekend’s poised formula - their keying at Baroque style pop, for instance - which differentiates them from most indie rock, yet at the same time prompts so many acts to follow suit. California English – two hundred-and-eighty- seven words in just under two-and-a-half minutes, barely comprehensible as doused in autotune - dexterous as difficult, perhaps impossible to transfer to a live setting. Alas, the tonal layering of the now synthesised strings and frenetic bass was intricate, a beautiful fever which fell upon a sweaty mess of teenagers.

Indeed as the set progressed it was as if the sun beamed upon the crowd both figuratively and in face of body heat, and here Hannah Hunt was our sunset. Encoring with perhaps the most emotive and the most raw song in their catalog - reducing a few to tears as they belted collectively, “There’s no future / There’s no answer”.

How wonderfully the atmosphere became a semi-superficial splendour, melancholic nuances in lyrics were given no thought - or maybe were celebrated in the midst of the joyful and energetic sweat spree. A purposefully well-read intelligence lies within Vampire Weekend, who for these teenagers have created a kind of timeless musical experience - not wanting for depth, or for quality (although there is no lack) but for the hysteria which surrounds them. A clever band with a modern sound and excellent live show which, in 20 years time, might invoke a nostalgia on their reunion tour.

Review by Jessica Syed

Shitty iPhone photo by Geneva Valek

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