Yeong Kar YanBlame it on Vampire Weekend. This writer at UrbanWire can’t go back listening to their albums without weeping. Were they bad? No. On the contrary, they were too good.
After the phenomenal experience that was the Vampire Weekend – ‘Live’ performance at the Esplanade Concert Hall on Oct 26, presented by Greenhorn Productions, the recorded tracks on their albums sound so flat in comparison that we’d die to have the 4 boys back in Singapore.
Left to right: Rostam Batmanglij, Christopher Tomson, Ezra Koenig, Christopher Baio
The indie rock band came late but no one really seemed to care judging from the loud cheers or screaming when Ezra Koenig (lead vocals/guitar), Christopher Baio (bassist), Rostam Batmanglij (keyboardist), Christopher Tomson (drummer) casually strolled onto the stage against a backdrop of neon lights. What’s another 45 minutes after close to 3 years of waiting?
They kicked off the show with opening song, “Holiday”, followed by “White Sky” and of course, 2007 hit single and hot favourite, “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”.
Ezra Koenig pulled off several tracks including “California English” with aplomb.
Vampire Weekend was on fire during the performance, and Koenig charmed us with his breezy vocals and crazy guitar work that had his fingers flying across the instrument, in-sync with the blindingly fast and flashing spotlights. Tomson was a god on the drums, throwing out ear-shattering beats which amped up the atmosphere.
Even long-time supporter, Nicholas Tseng, 23, was surprised that the show exceeded his expectations, “I thought it’d be quite chill actually, I didn’t expect [the show] to be so rousing.”
Christopher Baio giving his all on the bass and backup vocals.
If you don’t know the band, Vampire Weekend shot to fame – featuring a sound uniquely their own and influenced by genres like Afro-pop, Indie Rock, ska, punk, and even Western classical music – with their self-titled album in 2008. It was named the fifth best album of 2008 by Time. Vampire Weekend further cemented their super star status with Contra in January.
The preppy punks from Ivy League Columbia University, breezed through track after track and had everyone singing along to lyrics about Cape Cod summers, “Oxford Comma”[s] and “One (Blake’s Got A New Face)” while we waved our hands up in the air.
Christopher Tomson delivers the beats that makes Vampire Weekend’s music so addictive.
“They were awesome! “M79” is my favourite because it’s really fun to sing along to and “Giving Up The Gun” – they are feel good songs,” gushed Vada Lim, 18, from Pioneer Junior College.
It really felt like the night had just started when the band delivered an energetic 3-song encore set including “Horchata”, “Mansard Roof” and “Walcott”.
A daring fan shoved offstage by security within seconds.
Things reached an all time high when a fan ran onstage to proudly put his arm around Koenig and grin at the audience before being shoved offstage by security.
It at least earned a comment (“Brave young man”) from Koenig, who barely spoke during the 70-minute performance.
Rostam Batmanglij is also a producer for the band.
Said law student, Rachel, 22, “He was like ‘Hello Singapore, never been here before,’ and then he said thank you and then he said goodbye. So there wasn’t much audience interaction.”
“But if you just appreciate them for their music, then it was a good concert and [there was] a lot of energy,” she added.
Many fans UrbanWire spoke to really wished the band had sang “Ottoman”, from the Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist Soundtrack though, which may have made a good fit somewhere at the end.
It was what got fans like Ahmad Fakhruddin Bin Mohd Fadzah, 23, an NUS undergard, into Vampire Weekend in the first place. “I kinda like that song because it’s subdued but… they definitely sounded amazing live!”
All photos, with the exception of the security and drummer pictures, are courtesy of Jonathan Kwa.