The band performed in front of atowering backdrop of their cover girl for their sold-out show Tuesday night atthe Riverside Theater, her disapproving gaze fixed over the band, at theaudience in the balcony. As the evening wore on, her image was subjected toincreasingly unflattering light. By the encore, she was cast in a cautionaryred, her light-bulb eyes glowing demonically, another way for the band to warn,“Beware the rich girl,” as if their songs hadn't already made that clearenough.
Vampire Weekend has grown more jadedsince their debut. On Contra, Koenigstill dreams of sipping cold drinks in sun-soaked destinations, but this timearound these locales are tattered by war and revolution, their beaches litteredwith discarded ammunition and haunted by the threat of balaclava-maskedmilitants. He's not in Cape Cod anymore.
All that might suggest an unduly heavylive show, but Vampire Weekend retained the playful spirit that drew fans tothem in the first place. The group bound triumphantly on stage to the roar ofDJ Kool's “Let Me Clear My Throat,” and they maintained that impressive energythroughout the entire show.
This was a tighter, more confident VampireWeekend than Milwaukeecaught two years ago when their breakout tour hit Turner Hall Ballroom. Theybeautifully worked the crowd, which danced hardest to wound-up favorites fromthe group's debut, particularly “A-Punk” and “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa,” but alsoshowed plenty of love for Contra. Thetwo albums are decidedly of a piece, and though the band's allowed a littleextra weariness to seep into their new material, it's done little to dampentheir escapist appeal. Violent revolutionaries and callous girls be damned, avacation's a vacation.
