11 September 2010

Vampire Weekend, Beach House @ Main Street Armory

It was Friday night which meant only one thing, one more crappy week in the books and the start of the weekend. No ordinary weekend, this was a Vampire Weekend which is best spent at the Beach House with some Dum Dum Girls.



Unfortunately I arrived too late to partake in any Dum Dum Girls. Without much of a wait though, Beach House took the stage in front of 3 internally lit pyramids. Ethereal stage set for ethereal music. Beach House is one of those bands that have collected on my ipod over the years without any effort or ever having purchased or attained a full album, just songs here and there, live sets, free downloads etc. Always liked em, but never have made that leap and have never seen them live. I was, as expected, impressed seeing them in person. I don't think the Main Street Armory was a particularly good environment for them, but they made do and didn't have any problem keeping the near sellout crowd's rapt attention. At one point they even choreographed an impromptu wave through the crowd. They opened with Walk in the Park off of their latest, which for better or worse ended up being the highlight of the whole show from either band. Such an amazing song and played beautifully. Beach House has a unique sound, but I still couldn't help but find musical similarities throughout the set. They outfoxed the Fleet Foxes, matched flame with the Flaming Lips, and didn't quite burn as hot as the Fiery Furnaces. I'd love to catch these guys in a more intimate and more acoustically sound venue. Great set.



Vampire Weekend closed out the night, and rarely have I seen a crowd more ready to eat everything they were dishing out. If you looked closely enough you could probably see some fans foaming at the mouth. The crowd roared at every given opportunity and then some. And after a little bit of a warm up they were ready willing and able to let it all hang out and dance the night away, opting to forgo the more common indie-rock head bob. Vampire Weekend delivered on the crowd's dreams for the "best show ever," but for me it was just a good band playing their very good songs very well. But hey that sounds awesome! I know I know, but still, as a complete show it was missing something more to bring it all together. I think perhaps each song was played too tightly. The crowd was willing to loosen up over time, but the band didn't exactly follow suit. They really aren't willing to loosen the reins on even one of their songs, even ones they've been playing for over 2 years. Time to mix it up I think. But still, criticism aside, this is one of those shows where song after song, you just realize, damn, these guys have a lot of great songs.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

you are so right vampire weekend was amazing and ezra has such a good voice

Anonymous said...

do you remember the full setlist for Beach House? nice blog post btw!

Liffy said...

Thanks. Sorry, but I don't remember what else they played.