Vampire Weekend, Sures @ The Metro Theatre, Sydney (23/01/2013)
Following on from standout performances at the Sydney and Gold Coast Big Day Out festival dates, Vampire Weekend took to the stage of a sold out Sydney Metro Theatre to once again entertain their Australian fans.
Sydney locals SURES opened the night to a rather modest crowd of restless but ultimately interested fans. Their relaxed approach to their music created a chilled surf-rock sound with rhythm-led songs and soaring harmonies.
Playing through their EP Stars, the song of the set, Poseidon, was a highlight with its synth heavy and blissed out sound fitting rather well with the steadily growing crowd. An interesting choice for the set was a rocked-out cover of Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You Out Of My Head, which was certainly an unexpected song choice but reasonably well covered by the band.
Vampire Weekend walked out to a theatre packed to very back wall with fans waiting for the opening chords of their set. Their first song, Cousins, started off their performance on a high note that truthfully only rose from there during the rest of the set. While the crowd remained rather relaxed during the performance with outbreaks of dancing and singing along, their responses to the stage show were energetic and captivated.
Playing some of the biggest crowd pleasers of their Big Day Out set, Holiday and A-Punk really bought the feel of the summer festival into the Metro Theatre. The set continued on with a recently debuted song The Unbelievers with Rostam Batmanglij and Chris Baio both moving on to keys and Ezra Koenig on an acoustic guitar, which created an enchanting atmosphere. Following up was I Think Ur A Contra, which was its debut performance in an Australian show and continued the calmer ambiance of the show.
Their set ended in a climax of hits that drew the crowd into a frenzy of singing and dancing. The final three songs, Campus, Oxford Comma and Giving Up The Gun, were definite crowd pleasers of the night with everyone in the theatre signing along with Ezra and following Chris Baio’s inventive dance moves.
As with any headlining band at shows nowadays, the night was finished off with a three-song encore. Vampire Weekend came back onto the stage to a mass of chanting, stomping and cheering fans that weren’t ready for the night to end. Their encore started off with One (Blake’s Got A New Face) moving onto Mansard Roof, which got the crowd grooving along with the band. The final song of the night, and a tradition across the band’s shows as a goodbye song, was Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, which was a perfect ending to a wonderful show.
Despite a far cry from their afternoon spot on the main stage, Vampire Weekend managed to pack in every ounce of energy and summer festival vibes into their sold out show. The band’s indie rock anthems, Ezra’s charming stage presence and bassist Chris’ funky dance moves made the show a perfect night out for fans.
Bethany Williams
Check out our photos from the night here!
Sydney locals SURES opened the night to a rather modest crowd of restless but ultimately interested fans. Their relaxed approach to their music created a chilled surf-rock sound with rhythm-led songs and soaring harmonies.
Playing through their EP Stars, the song of the set, Poseidon, was a highlight with its synth heavy and blissed out sound fitting rather well with the steadily growing crowd. An interesting choice for the set was a rocked-out cover of Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You Out Of My Head, which was certainly an unexpected song choice but reasonably well covered by the band.
Vampire Weekend walked out to a theatre packed to very back wall with fans waiting for the opening chords of their set. Their first song, Cousins, started off their performance on a high note that truthfully only rose from there during the rest of the set. While the crowd remained rather relaxed during the performance with outbreaks of dancing and singing along, their responses to the stage show were energetic and captivated.
Playing some of the biggest crowd pleasers of their Big Day Out set, Holiday and A-Punk really bought the feel of the summer festival into the Metro Theatre. The set continued on with a recently debuted song The Unbelievers with Rostam Batmanglij and Chris Baio both moving on to keys and Ezra Koenig on an acoustic guitar, which created an enchanting atmosphere. Following up was I Think Ur A Contra, which was its debut performance in an Australian show and continued the calmer ambiance of the show.
Their set ended in a climax of hits that drew the crowd into a frenzy of singing and dancing. The final three songs, Campus, Oxford Comma and Giving Up The Gun, were definite crowd pleasers of the night with everyone in the theatre signing along with Ezra and following Chris Baio’s inventive dance moves.
As with any headlining band at shows nowadays, the night was finished off with a three-song encore. Vampire Weekend came back onto the stage to a mass of chanting, stomping and cheering fans that weren’t ready for the night to end. Their encore started off with One (Blake’s Got A New Face) moving onto Mansard Roof, which got the crowd grooving along with the band. The final song of the night, and a tradition across the band’s shows as a goodbye song, was Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, which was a perfect ending to a wonderful show.
Despite a far cry from their afternoon spot on the main stage, Vampire Weekend managed to pack in every ounce of energy and summer festival vibes into their sold out show. The band’s indie rock anthems, Ezra’s charming stage presence and bassist Chris’ funky dance moves made the show a perfect night out for fans.
Bethany Williams
Check out our photos from the night here!