Vampire Weekend at Barclays Center, A Hometown Show
This past Friday at Barclays Center, Vampire Weekend was set to headline the stage, following opening acts Sky Ferreira and Solange. It was nearing 10PM when the lights went down and blaring trumpets filled the arena. The stage was adorned with Corinthian half columns suspended from the ceiling with a white sheet backdrop (which would eventually come down to reveal a round gold frame mirror and busy, floral wallpaper reminiscent of the 1920s). Band members Ezra Koenig, Rostam Batmanglij, Chris Baio, and Chris Tomson filed in, giving modest bows before taking their places on stage. Chris Thomson was sporting a Nets Jersey (one of many he would he changing into throughout the night). Ezra stood in front of a sea of screaming fans and gave a big smile before greeting his ecstatic audience: “It’s nice to play a hometown show.” Yells, screams and cheering ensued as Ezra led the band with the rambunctious guitar intro of “Cousins”.
From the start, the band members created an intense chemistry with the audience, and with each other. There wasn’t a moment where my eyes fell off the stage over the course of the 23 song set. The set list was divided equally across their three released albums, alternating between Afro-pop infusions on Contra, clean guitar rifts on their first, self-titled album, and the piano based ballads of Modern Vampires of the City. Lead singer Ezra Koenig fearlessly led us through the discography of Vampire Weekend, running through early tracks “Cousins”, “White Sky”, and “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” before hitting the recently released single from Modern Vampires, “Diane Young”. When keyboard/guitarist/vocalist Rostam Batmanglij joined Koenig on the raucous ascending and descending guitar rifts, the crowd went wild, creating an atmosphere of a high-energy rock concert.
When the band went into fan favorites such as “Holiday” and “A-Punk”, there was a sense of nostalgia in the arena. Ezra was giving coy, loving smiles towards his fans during these songs that gave the band their initial popularity and internet fame. Digging even further, the band went into the song “Ladies of Cambridge”, a song that never even appeared on any of their full length albums. Still, every person in the arena was jumping up and down, lifting their voices to join Ezra during the chorus: “But if you leave I just don’t think I could take it”. While Rostam and Ezra were commanding the front and center stage, bassist Chris Baio was practically doing the jitterbug on stage right—while still managing to play flawless bass lines. Drummer Chris Tomson took off into clean drum solos, bringing the rest of the players up to his compromising speed.
From Modern Vampires of the City, Vampire Weekend played nine out of twelve tracks. This album, according to band members Ezra and Rostam, is largely dedicated to New York City. Not only is it filled with references to the city where the band originally formed, the music and lyrics were largely conceived in Rostam’s Brooklyn apartment. The band played their funky, piano based ballad “Step”, and the crowd grew quiet while Rostam carried Ezra’s distorted staccato vocals. Followed by their California style sing-along “Horchata”, they revisited the complicated love ballad element present in “Everlasting Arms”. In the middle of the set, the band seamlessly transitioned into a cover of Blur’s “Song 2”. Ezra began jumping around the stage like a rock star as the stage filled with erratic spotlights. The crowd matched his excitement, heads bobbing and arms in the air as Ezra belted “Woo Hoo!” into the mic. The arena came alive. It truly felt like a hometown show.
When the band finished up the set with “Obvious Bicycle” and exited the stage, the crowd begged as loudly as we could for the start of an encore. We didn’t have to wait for long. Rostam led the band back to the stage and invited the audience for a sing-along of one of the band’s first hits, “One (Blake’s Got A New Face)”. The song brought the audience and the band together for a moment of call and response with every person in Barclays screaming “Blake’s got a new face”. The next part of the encore was “Hannah Hunt” off of Modern Vampires of the City. This song is a personal favorite; I was caught in a state of pure awe as Rostam played the haunting keyboard intro followed by Ezra’s alluring, sentimental lyrics. The crowd was in a trance as the band alternated between moving bass line and keyboard solo. But a tension was building as the song progressed in volume and pace—finally Ezra wailed into the mic, freeing the audience from the trance and back into the high-energy dance as we screamed along with him, “Though we live by the US Dollar, you and me, we’ve got our own sense of time”.
Once the crowd quieted down, Vampire Weekend said their goodbyes with what Ezra calls the band’s “leaving song”, because it’s about “leaving Cape Cod, leaving Cape Cod tonight”. The crowd engaged in a last frenzy of singing and dancing as Ezra, Rostam, Chris Baio and Chris Tomson busted into one of their early hits, ‘Walcott”. The band let loose on stage for their final track, feeding off of the aggressive energy of the banging keyboard and drum cadences. Ezra left us screaming “Walcott, don’t know that it’s insane, don’t you wanna get out of Cape Cod, out of Cape Cod tonight”.
From their first Brooklyn show in 2006 at Pete’s Candy Store, Vampire Weekend has become on of the most important rock bands of this generation. According to Rolling Stone Magazine, Vampire Weekend is one of the 25 Reasons to be Excited about Rock & Roll. In 2006, the band started out in 3rd out of 4th place at a Battle of the Bands competition at Columbia University and now, they are playing in festivals such as SXSW, Lollapalooza, and Austin City Limits, in addition to headlining at venues such as Red Rocks Amphitheater, Hollywood Bowl, and Barclays Center. Vampire Weekend is still touring, so don’t miss your chance to be a part of the Modern Vampires of the City tour. The remaining dates of their North America tour are as follows, buy Vampire Weekend tickets now!
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Date
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Event
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|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 248:00 PM | Vampire WeekendThe Pageant – Saint Louis, MO | ||
| Sep 256:00 PM | Vampire WeekendArkansas Music Pavilion – Fayetteville, AR | From $165 | |
| Sep 278:00 PM | Vampire WeekendComerica Theatre – Phoenix, AZ | From $10 | |
| Sep 287:00 PM | Vampire Weekend & BeirutHollywood Bowl – Los Angeles, CA | From $95 | |
| Oct 1TBD | Vampire WeekendRialto Theatre – Tuscon, AZ | ||
| Oct 58:00 PM | Vampire WeekendBrady Theater – Tulsa, OK | ||
| Oct 77:30 PM | Vampire WeekendRyman Auditorium – Nashville, TN | From $87 | |
| Oct 87:00 PM | Vampire WeekendThe Midland By AMC – Kansas City, MO | From $72 | |
| Oct 108:00 PM | Vampire WeekendVerizon Theatre at Grand Prairie – Grand Prairie, TX | From $15 | |
| Oct 108:00 PM | Vampire WeekendVerizon Theatre at Grand Prairie – Grand Prairie, TX | ||
| Dec 17:00 PM | Vampire WeekendMain Street Armory – Rochester, NY | From $104 | |
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