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When the tickets for Vampire Weekend's concert went on sale, I knew absolutely nothing about the band. The tickets were only 12 dollars and sold out instantly. Weeks later, I received a misplaced copy of Spin Magazine in the mail and read the band's name for the first time, together with a subtitle that said "The Years Best New Band...Already?" As any media-driven automaton would have done, I instantaneously logged into the band's Myspace and began my relationship with the Columbia four.
The attraction was inevitable. It happens to me maybe once a year, at most... but do you know when you listen to a band for the first time and the music just blends perfectly with your present mood? Well, I was in the middle of a rainy week smeared with interminable assignments and terrifying due dates (the kind that makes you question even the most irrelevant details of your daily existence). The music had a perfect je ne sais quoi that kept me glued to my earphones for the rest of the evening, forgetting the rain and escaping the cloud of deadline-induced stress (mea culpa, I am a master procrastinator).
The next day came Dragonette and the story you've already read. But as I was preparing my reply to one of the comments, I realized that Vampire Weekend was playing in Vancouver! I read with horror that the tickets were sold out in the first few days. With fan-from-hell determination, I found a couple of tickets on Craigslist and drove downtown to pick them up from your token scalper....
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The venue was Richard's on Richards, the time was 10 pm. We arrived just in time for the opening band, Yacht, who truly jumpstarted the audience with their intense beats and zombie dancing moves. Again, my girlfriend delivered the killer one-liner that will save me from any attempt at describing the band: "This is just what a hipster karaoke would look like."
Then came the button down shirts and merino sweaters of Vampire Weekend. The lead singer immediately took the microphone to tell us it was his first time in Vancouver.... I was standing maybe 11 meters away (ahhh the marvels of tiny, intimate venues!) They started to play and the audience fell into a trance. It was impressive to see such confidence and flawless playing by such a young quartet. The singer kept telling us stories about the songs and asking us to sing some of the parts...the connection with the audience was perfect. At one point, the keyboard player took his jacket off to reveal an "I heart NY" t-shirt. Somebody in the audience complained, "hey, that's not a collared shirt!", to which the singer replied a very cool: "well, don't believe everything you read."
Follow his wise words if you may, but after yesterday's electrifying show, I can assure you that Vampire Weekend is here to stay. Here are some pics from yesterday:
