Vampire Weekend at The Wellmont Theatre (12/08/08)

Photos: Jon Klemm

As I am fan of both of Paul Simon and The English Beat, I thoroughly enjoyed Vampire Weekend‘s homecoming show at The Wellmont Theatre on Monday night. It was actually my first time seeing them live, and though I guess I’ve hardly blogged about them, I, like NPR’s Bob Boilen, am big fan of their debut record. Like I mentioned in my last post, lead singer Ezra Koenig attended nearby Glen Ridge High School and used to check out movies at The Wellmont with his buddy Wes Miles (it was a movie palace before the Bowery took it over). So there was certainly no shortage of love in the audience for the local boys made good and it showed throughout the night. VW got the crowd jumping from the opening chords of “Mansard Roof” and kept them in the air until the closing verse of “Walcott”. In between the audience was treated to “every song they knew”, including a raucous call and response on “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”, two new tunes called “White Sky” and “Little Giant”, and a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Everywhere” (which fell a little flat, in my opinion). For me, the highlight of the night was probably “A-Punk”, but the new song “Little Giant” was also surprisingly enjoyable. If I had to pick out some weak spots in their performance, I’d probably say the B-side “Ladies of Cambridge” could have easily been left off set list and no one would have cared and the vocal squelch that Ezra employed during the chorus of “(One) Blake’s Got A New Face” was easily one of the most irritating moments of the night.

Vampire Weekend Set List (The Wellmont Theatre – 12/08/08)
Mansard Roof
Campus
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
I Stand Corrected
White Sky
Bryn
Ladies of Cambridge
A-Punk
(One) Blake’s Gotta New Face
M79
The Kids Don’t Stand A Chance
Little Giant
Oxford Comma
–Encore–
Everywhere
Walcott

More photos after the jump.

PS Ezra’s Bubbe was up in the balcony, just a few seats away from me, no doubt shepping a great deal of naches upon hearing her grandson perform “Oxford Comma” and other Vampire Weekend hits.