Review: Heather McNab
Arriving at the Hordern Pavilion early it was clearly already abuzz with a large groups of excited fans dancing along to and being drawn in by support band Gang of Youths. The band performing an excellent set, preparing the crowd and setting expectations high for the main act, Vampire Weekend.
After a short break and the venue filling quickly, the lights dim and with enthusiastic screams and whistles from the audience, Vampire Weekend take to the stage starting out with “Diane Young”. Fans were onboard from the first note, singing along to every word of every song, completely emmersed and happy. Frontman Ezra Koenig’s easy style relaxing the crowd with a feel good vibe. In contrast, bassist Chris Baio’s dancing and movements were mesmerising, a life force all to themselves.
Crowd highlights included “A-Punk” and “Cousins”, although this is hard to quantify as there were so many highlights throughout the set. There is no doubt that Vampire Weekend have found their formula and the fans have soaked it in. Given tonight’s performance and the following Vampire Weekend have secured, we will be seeing a lot more of them in the coming years!
SET LIST
Diane Young
White Sky
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
Unbelievers
Holiday
Step
Finger Back
Horchata
Everlasting Arms
Cousins
California English
A-Punk
Boston (Ladies of Cambridge)
Ya Hey
Campus
Oxford Comma
Giving Up the Gun
Obvious Bicycle
Encore:
Hannah Hunt
Walcott
Band: Vampire Weekend – www.facebook.com/VampireWeekend
Venue: Hordern Pavilion, Sydney – www.facebook.com/HordernPavilion
Date: January 8, 2014
