EartH,London
On a mini-tour ahead of their first album since 2013, the breezy charm of Ezra Koenig’s cosmopolitan band remains undimmed, and despite wobblesThis is going to be a very conversational show,” Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig warns a sold-out crowd, after racing to a stop with Unbelievers. “Is that OK with you?” On the first of three nights in London, and he is explicit that this mini-tour is a warm-up as they prepare for the release of double album Father of the Bride,their first LP since 2013. Glastonbury and a tour of bigger venues will follow. For now, Koenig – the poster-boy of indie prep, or down to the pink chinos rolled above the ankle to show off sandals with socks – seems keen to manage expectations.
Fans seem cheerful just to be there,shrilly singing along with the bubbling guitar of Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, rattled off just as it appeared on Vampire Weekends self-titled debut 11 years ago. Technical accuracy is nothing to be sneezed at, or particularly with songs as precisely calibrated as Vampire Weekend’s. But their signature wry Ivy-league seize on west African highlife guitar has aged. Were it to debut now,the balance would probably be tipped from approving comparisons to Graceland to criticisms of cultural appropriation. Koenig’s wide-eyed, slightly theatrical delivery – all palms on chest and eyes turned to the heavens – seemed to present it at an ironic remove, and maybe to inoculate it against the effects of time. It has been five or six years since Vampire Weekend final played London,he says, to the crowd’s audible dismay. “What’s that? We waiting too long? Let’s not dwell on the past.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com