Vampire Weekend played to their biggest Ohio crowd yet on Thursday night (09.19.24) at Blossom Music Center, according to lead singer Ezra Koenig. The Indie band gave the crowd a night of their signature, jazz-inspired, eclectic sound of both older and newer songs, filling the stage with a large band that took the time to jam out and have a bit of fun whenever it was warranted, all to the backdrop of elaborate stage design.
The show started with just the three official members, vocalist Ezra Koenig, Bassist Chris Baio, and Drummer Chris Tomson. Each one stood in front of a large black curtain with the name of the band in giant white letters, playing in their own spotlights. It was a quiet “spotlight” on the three true members of the band that gave them a moment to shine on their own before the full show began. Then, after the third song, the curtain dropped to reveal the total count of seven members, including two drummers, a saxophonist, keyboardist, guitarist, and more to be introduced throughout the night. Behind them was a large fake tunnel opening, complete with all the “tunnel crew” members at the sides of the stage in neon vests. Those tunnel crew and vests would pop up a couple of times throughout the night. At one point early in the set, one of them came out and did an interpretive dance on the center of the stage. I’ve been told it was a guitar tech.
Considering this was the largest Ohio show “by far” for the band, it was entertaining to hear them tell about their first show in Cleveland, at the Beachland Tavern, and Koenig made sure to let everyone know it was the smaller Tavern venue, not the Ballroom. Apparently, there were about five people at the show, and one of those people got mugged outside the show. Koenig said the band had always wondered what happened to him, and so he said if that guy was in the audience, he was welcome to buy all the merch he wanted. Hearing about that first tiny show was a stark contrast to the packed amphitheater and lawn on Thursday.
Most of the songs they played were from the newly released Only God Was Above Us. They played 9 out of the 10 songs on that album. It was refreshing to see people excited about the new songs, which isn’t always the case. Not surprising, however, given the abundant praise that people have heaped on that album.
Fittingly, the new album is an eclectic mix of the band’s sounds, and the concert was no different. There were several elements of the jam band, including long solos and instrumental breaks, but the bonus was that the jams didn’t go too far or get too noodly. Maybe it’s my misspent youth at too many music festivals, but a person can only take so many 20-minute guitar solos in their life. What was great about Vampire Weekend, was that they were certainly jamming, but the other influences on their music kept the jams at the right lengths and the songs moving.
Songs like “This Life,” gave room for the instruments to breathe, but not too much, especially the violin and sax. They were a great pairing. Oh, did I forget the violin? Yeah, there was one of those. I’m certain I saw the keyboardist with a melodica during the song “Ottoman,” which Koenig explained this version was transformed into a ska version entitled “Ska-ttoman,” and it was almost like the world had never collectively fallen out of love with ska as a genre.
That ska remix was one of so many genre influences on the band’s sound. There were moments during songs like “Diane Young,” when Koenig was moving his hips and singing “Baby, baby, baby,” in a deep voice where he moved and sounded just like Elvis. This eclectic mix of influences was present even during the encore, when the band played snippets of covers like “Tiny Dancer” by Elton John, “1979,” by The Smashing Pumpkins, and “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” by Oasis. Of course, those were all audience requests, which is a great idea that they do at shows, but the ability to cover so many songs on the fly, to any degree, was impressive.
The entire show was amazing. One person said it was like watching a movie. I’ll reiterate again that the encore of playing songs by request from the crowd is such a fun idea. They, of course, closed with one of their own songs, but the five or so before that were all covers. It was an energetic ending to a night of fun, talent, and good old-fashioned jamming. Add the stage production to all of that, and you have the ingredients for a perfect night of music.
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