Vampire Weekend
By: Thomas Hannan
Touring this week:
17/01/2008 - Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen, London
19/01/2008 - Push @ Astoria 2, London
Tickets: £7.00 Hoxton, £5.00 Push
Why is this worthy of my time and money?: Our ears first plucked Vampire Weekend's music out of the air when they were playing in support to The Shins at Hammersmith Apollo. We'd never heard any of it before - heck, we'd never even heard of them before - but yet we were instantly captivated. And we seemingly weren't the only ones - a mere three or four songs in to the New York band's first ever UK gig, they had the whole of the mammoth west London venue singing joyfully along to a song called 'One (Blake's Got A New Face)' which surely only a handful of people in the venue could ever have heard prior to that evening (and most of them were on stage singing it). Vampire Weekend's songs are just that strong. However, despite winning melody being at the core at all times, the music's also remarkably inventive, taking in everything from Paul Simon, XTC and Congolese soukous music (the catchier than leprosy 'Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa' being a case in point). This highly anticipated pair of London shows threaten to be early contenders for gig of the year.
Artists in this article: Vampire Weekend