Vampire Weekend thrills young fans in Berkeley
By Lauren Duffy
Vampire Weekend brought a packed audience of die-hard fans to their show at the historic Greek Theatre in Berkeley, September 25. The theatre, located on the UC Berkeley campus, was nearly filled to its 8,500-person capacity during the concert Saturday night, which also featured Beach House and The Very Best as opening acts.
"Don't be shy!" said Vampire Weekend singer Ezra Koenig, encouraging the audience to sing along before their performance of "M79," from their debut album. "That's what amphitheaters were made for!" The hypnotized audience did indeed follow Koenig's advice; the young crowd sang along, nearly word for word, throughout the show. The band seemed to feed off of the relentless enthusiasm of the packed crowd and performed an extremely energetic and upbeat set.
Vampire Weekend performed well-known tracks from their self-titled 2008 debut album, along with selections from their second album "Contra," released in January 2010. "Contra" has proved to be a wildly successful sophomore album, debuting at number one on the Billboard charts during its first week of release.
Ezra Koenig, Chris Baio, Rostam Batmanglij, and Chris Tomson make up Vampire Weekend, an indie rock band that has achieved worldwide recognition since its formation at Columbia University in New York in 2006. The band gained exposure largely due to hype on blogs like "Stereogum," which helped propel the young quartet to the forefront of the indie scene within a matter of months.The band is known for their fusion of indie rock with Afro-pop influences, and their sound has frequently been compared to that of Paul Simon's 1986 album "Graceland." Vampire Weekend describes their sound as "Upper West Side Soweto," an interesting combination that draws both from popular African music as well as Western classical music, all rolled up into one upbeat package.This year alone, Vampire Weekend scored headlining spots at major music festivals including Coachella, Glastonbury and Bonnaroo, as well as appearances on numerous media outlets including "Saturday Night Live," "MTV Unplugged," and "The Colbert Report."
Vampire Weekend exudes a preppy style onstage. At the Greek, frontman Koenig performed in a Burberry button-up oxford, slim dark jeans and boat shoes. This style is evident in the band's lyricism as well; Koenig sings of being "like a real aristocrat" in the song "Taxi Cab." Vampire Weekend is one of the most divisive bands of the current music scene, with critics arguing that the group unauthentically fuses world music into their Ivy League sound.
"The crowd was really young. I forgot how many 13-year-olds like Vampire Weekend," said Santa Clara senior Paul Chianese, who won a pair of tickets to the show by calling into KSCU 103.3 FM, the Santa Clara radio station. Chianese mentioned that he attended the concert specifically to see Beach House, and mentioned "Zebra" from their album "Teen Dream" as one song that specifically stood out.Beach House, whose songs are mainly slow to mid-tempo, brought a different atmosphere to the Greek than the intensely cheerful headliners.
The indie band consists of Victoria Legrand, who sings and plays the organ, and guitarist Alex Scally, a duo that has seemed to perfect the art of shadowy dream pop since their group's formation in 2004. Scally and Legrand were accompanied by Daniel J. Franz and Graham Hill on percussion and Steve Strohmeier on keyboards at the Greek, which helped to amplify the band's minimalist sound in such a massive venue.
Beneath a glimmering dark backdrop that resembled a starry sky, Beach House performed a forty-five minute set of tracks mostly from their 2010 album, "Teen Dream.""Don't I know you better than the rest/All deception, all deception, from you," sang Victoria Legrand during "Zebra," a track that showcased the group's evocative lyrics and hauntingly beautiful sound. Legrand draws frequent comparison to '60s singer Nico for her deep, sultry vocals. Overall, the group delivered a remarkable performance that seemed a world away from the Vampire Weekend's poppy sound.Ed Drostre, lead singer for the indie-rock group Grizzly Bear, was spotted wearing a VIP pass and heading backstage after Beach House's performance. Legrand of Beach House has collaborated with Grizzly Bear in the past, providing background vocals for their recent single, "Two Weeks."
Despite their status as one of indie rock's most prominent and commercially successful bands, the members of Vampire Weekend still seemed incredibly excited to play at the Greek to a crowd of such intense fans. In the pit closest to the stage the crowd consisted of young teens that sang along with every lyric, while a few kids attempted unsuccessfully to crowd-surf. Outside of the Greek, large groups of fans relaxed on the hill above the amphitheatre, where they could still hear the performances clearly without paying the steep ticket price, over $40 for general admission.
One notable surprise during the show was Vampire Weekend's delicate cover of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm Going Down," a song that seemed to fall on deaf ears due to the collective young age of the audience.But the crowd's disinterest in the Springsteen cover was no reflection of their passion for the performers. If the thousands of intense fans at Saturday night's show indicate anything, it's that Vampire Weekend's mainstream success is only rising from here.
Contact Lauren Duffy at leduffy@scu.edy or at (408) 551-1918