Paris’s Olympia was packed to the brim last night for Vampire Weekend’s second ever French performance (Ezra Koenig made sure to specify this fact). The lads put on their classic polos, flannel shirts, cuffed jeans, and keds à la Brooklyn/Upper West Sider, for the pleasure of the hipster, wide-brim wearing Parisian audience. The simple but kick-ass stage set featured a huge photo of the mystery blonde Contra girl, along with hanging chandeliers and long velvet red curtains. The stage and the boys were all perfectly stylin’ to the very last detail… and the music wasn’t too shabby either.
Throughout the hour and a half performance the boys made sure to throw in a bunch of new songs off of second album, Contra, but the Vampire Weekend hits were obviously the biggest crowd pleasers, all executed with clean, clear, FIRELY flare. “Mansard Roof” was a perfect roller-coaster ride of drum rolls and keyboard. “I Stand Corrected” personally made me melt in my seat. ”Horchata” of course got a wonderfully receptive sing along, but nothing beat the french-tinged english of the crowd when everyone screamed, “Blake’s got a new face” during the swingy, reggae-pop hit. The whole concert was a more than satisfactory bombshell of jumps, side steps, and sways amid Ezra’s cries, sublime guitar riffs, melodies, and beats. The happy-go-lucky collaborations of the four native New Yorkers perhaps hasn’t been able to surpass the musical genius and originality that was the first album, but as long as they are performing with as much energy and clarity as last night, they’ve got nothing to worry about.
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