LIVE REVIEW: Vampire Weekend - Edinburgh Picturehouse 14.2.10

My heart beat fast in the second row of the Edinburgh HMV Picturehouse as the lights went down, the crowd erupted into applause and the band made their entrance onstage.

After months of trying to get a Vampire Weekend ticket I had given up. But when my boyfriend gave me a ticket for Valentines Day, I could have screamed with excitement.

They opened the set with the high-pitched ‘White Sky’ then continued to play tunes such as ‘Holiday’ and ‘Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa’.

Each member of the band proved themselves to be as important as the next by playing a host of instruments and creating a noise almost as perfect as the album tracks. As well as the usual drums, bass and guitar; a double bass, electric drums, maracas, a tambourine, piano and keyboard helped give each song its unique catchy sound. They even had the sample from M.I.A’s “Hussel” to start off the track ‘Diplomat’s Son’.

Aswell as amazing music there was plenty of chat on offer. Singer, Ezra Koeing described the event as “A beautiful Sunday evening in February” while addressing the crowd. He also made many references to Valentines Day and told everyone to hold someone and jump up and down.

The Edinburgh crowd went wild for hits ‘Cousins’ and ‘A punk’ then were encouraged to sing their lungs out to ‘M79′ and ‘One’. It was a phenomenal atmosphere in the crowd, everyone happy and in love. Koeing told the crowd he was going to slow it down with the track ‘I stand corrected’ which the faces in the crowd sang and swayed along to. Vampire Weekend seemed to cast a spell over the old theatre, this may have been the first gig I’ve been to where no one was pushing, no one was throwing beer at people and no one got crushed! There were just happy faces all round.

“I want you to all jump to this song. We have to play this song in Edinburgh, with all the amazing architecture” was said to introduce Mansford Roof, which was one of the last songs of the night.

The band thanked the crowd, took their bows and jogged off the stage, leaving the crowd wanting more. After a few chorus’ of “ONE MORE TUNE”, Vampire Weekend burst back onstage. Bassist Chris Baio started playing a familiar bassline on his double bass. The crowd went wild and whipped their cameras out as they recognised the rhythm to ‘Stand by me’ by Ben E. King. Koeing talked to the crowd over the bass, talking about love, music and Valentines Day before gently singing “When the night was young…”.

The encore finished with ‘Walcott’ and the indie rock quartet exited the stage. The audience left the venue totally buzzing and even the singles amongst the crowd left having had the best Valentines Day ever.