Photos and review by ALYSON CAMUS
HOLLYWOOD – It was a magical night at The Hollywood Bowl, “a Ska night,” as Ezra Koenig told us. Ska is not what first comes to mind when you want to describe Vampire Weekend’s music, but he assured us that Ska was “one of the 17 secret ingredients” of Vampire Weekend’s very unique sound.
The band is touring their fifth studio album, Only God Was Above Us and Koenig and his bandmates had invited famous ska group, the English Beat and Riverside’s Voodoo Glow Skulls as opening acts. The English Beat gave us a smooth delivery of some of their classics while Voodoo Glow Skulls, with their Mexican wrestling masks and colorful set-up, brought a frenzy taste of Hispanic-tinged ska-punk-rock to the bowl with intense energy and passion.
If Ska is truly not the first ingredient of their latest work, Vampire Weekend decided to ska-ify a few of their songs during a long set of 26 songs, browsing their five albums: So we got to hear ska versions of “Sunflower” which became a rather mellow “Skaflower,” a very joyful and bouncy “Ottoman,” introduced as “Skattoman,” and “Giving Up the Gun” or rather “Giving Up The Skun,” dedicated to the Voodoo Glow Skulls. It was a fun exercise, often propelling the songs into a manic state, but to me, it worked more or less.
The entire evening was a beautiful night, filled with sweet tunes and adventurous mise-en-scene: Ezra and two of his bandmates first played in front of a large black curtain with large white letters reading Vampire Weekend. Then it dropped in the middle of the fourth song, revealing a full band of seven musicians finishing the song in front of a fake tunnel as if the band were playing in a subway station in construction.
With “Holiday” and then “Cousins,” songs from the beloved Contra album which combines African-inspired guitar lines, indie rock and a youthful exuberance, all the fans were in very familiar territory. If the songs of the new album retain the sweetness of Vampire Wekend’s signature sound, they were fully orchestrated with keys, horns, and strings, and have an impulsive vivacity and abrupt acceleration which put the crowd into an ecstatic state during “Ice Cream Piano.”
There are traces of the old material here and there, even at first listening, but the band has expanded its sound into a full and layered orchestration, including a saxophonist, a violinist, a keyboardist, and a second drummer besides drummer Chris Tomson. Bassist Chris Baio is still part of the band, and we can only regret the departure of multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij who was a big part of their original sound. However, in its live incarnation, Vampire Weekend is now a more eclectic band with jazzy piano lines, funky departures, original saxo solos, and inspired strings, which were all making Koenig’s splendid melodies shine.
With their African pop à la Paul Simon’s “Graceland” and irresistible lightness that would make anyone dance in their seat, the “Contra”-era songs or the ones off their debut album might be the ones that still resonate the most among the audience: “White Sky,” “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” and “Oxford Comma” were the perfect examples. Other ones like “This Life” gave a more jam-like experience, and “Harmony Hall” brought a groovy reminiscent of the Grateful Dead.
Ariel Rechtshaid – who has worked with tons of people including Madonna, Usher, Adele, and Haim, and produced Vampire Weekend’s last album – showed up to join the band for “Capricorn” and “Gen-X Cops.” As Ezra told us, he added “nasty sounds” over sweet tunes and Koenig’s still youthful, yearning vocals.
“Diane Young” was a punchy one as was everyone’s favorite, “A-Punk,” while the new songs had catchy melodies – I have to listen to this “Prep-School Gangsters” again. As expected “Hannah Hunt” gave me the chills, especially the piano line just after “You and me, we got our sense of time,” and Ezra invited us to sing along during the melancholic “Hope.”
For the encore, they played a song Koenig wrote for Tim Robinson’s Netflix sketch-comedy show “I Think You Should Leave” and Robinson made a short appearance on stage for the occasion. Then, for the fun of it, they took requests from the audience, and did brief and very partial versions of Steely Dan’s “Peg,” the Grateful Dead’s “Touch of Grey” and the B-52’s “Rock Lobster”… and “a new tradition for this tour.”
They closed the long night with “Walcott,” Vampire Weekend’s “traditional goodbye song.” It was a brilliant night filled with creative music beautifully served by a fun, effortless execution, and Koenig’s high, delicate vocals. It’s simply amazing to think that Vampire Weekend’s sound broke out 16 years ago and still sounds as fresh and inventive as ever.
Setlist
Holiday
Cousins
Boston (Ladies of Cambridge)
Ice Cream Piano
Classical
Connect
White Sky
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
This Life
Sunflower (Ska-ified version, introduced as “Skaflower”)
Sympathy
Ottoman (Ska-ified version, introduced as “Skattoman”)
The Surfer
Oxford Comma
Capricorn (with Ariel Rechtshaid)
Gen-X Cops (with Ariel Rechtshaid)
Diane Young
A-Punk
Prep-School Gangsters
Mary Boone
Hannah Hunt
Harmony Hall
Hope
Encore:
Dangerous Knife (The Night Is A Knife From “I Think You Should Leave”; Tim Robinson made brief appearance.)
Giving Up the Gun (Ska-ified version, “Giving Up The Skun”)
Peg (brief and partial Steely Dan cover)
Touch of Grey (brief and partial Grateful Dead cover)
Rock Lobster (brief and partial The B‐52s cover)
Walcott
