I don’t often use the word ‘stupendous’ but in all honesty, there are few adjectives capable of accurately describing the spectacle of a Vampire Weekend show. I don’t know whether they’re the absolute best live band in the world right now, but they’re undoubtedly up there as contenders, and their second consecutive performance at Manchester’s O2 Apollo did more than enough to suggest that the crown may well be theirs.
The sheer breadth of quality material released by Ezra Koenig and his band means there is no need for a support act, and gives them licence to change the set list dramatically at every gig they play, every song performed always an unbridled joy. On this particular date, they chose to roll back the years by starting with a holy trinity of songs from their seminal 2007 debut – ‘Mansard Roof‘, ‘Oxford Comma‘ and ‘Bryn‘ – just the trio of Koenig and the two Chrises, Baio and Tomson, visible before us in front of a blue tinted curtain with the New York band’s moniker projected in huge letters. It’s one of the most aesthetically pleasing things I’ve seen at a gig, even further enhanced by the dramatic curtain drop during the tour de force that is ‘Ice Cream Piano‘, revealing the supporting tour musicians in an ice-cool stage setting that put me in mind of Alex and his droogs in A Clockwork Orange, though thankfully nobody was wearing codpieces, from what I could make out…
Scintillating performances of new and old felt like a reunion of long-term friends introducing each other to their more recent cohorts, with everybody revelling in the splendour of the night, so after a rip-roaring ‘Classical‘ and frantic ‘Connect‘ (much noisier than it is on the band’s outstanding latest album Only God Was Above Us), we are treated to the well-honed world beats of both Contra‘s ‘White Sky‘ and the debut’s ‘Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa‘. No period of the group’s output is neglected, so crowd favourites from Father Of The Bride, such as ‘Harmony Hall‘ and ‘This Life‘ are aired to perfection, the former tune being dedicated to two audience members who were apparently attending their first ever gig, along with several absolute bangers from Modern Vampires Of The City, including ‘Diane Young‘ and, during the encore, an invigorating, 100mph rendition of ‘Worship You‘.
Speaking of encores, these days, Vampire Weekend only take requests from the audience of OTHER people’s songs, which they will try to figure out and then do an impromptu version of. By Koenig’s own admission, “Some of these will work, but some will be a disaster“, and so it proved, with The Cure‘s ‘Close To Me‘ and Hot Chip‘s ‘Ready For The Floor‘ admirable attempts that never quite hit the sweet spot, but then a rendition of ‘This Charming Man‘ which got the entire venue singing along, successful takes on Bowie‘s ‘Five Years‘, Weezer‘s ‘Say It Ain’t So‘ and Dolly Parton‘s ‘9 To 5‘. Perhaps best of all though, most unexpectedly, was their handling of ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You‘! Their final act, of their own ‘Ya Hey‘ was really just the icing on the cake.
Before the encore, Vampire Weekend had closed the show with the powerful ‘Hope‘, the classy ending seeing each band member down instruments one at a time toward the end of the song and walk off into the haze, as though they’d just finished a performance on Stars In Their Eyes:
“Tonight, Matthew, we’re going to be fucking awesome.”
And they really, really were.
PHOTOS: Paul Reno
