Vampire Weekend @ Barrowlands 13/2/10

Vampire Weekend are definitely one of the more pleasing acts to hit the mainstream of recent times, their Afro pop tinged tunes gave a certain freshness from your typical indie rocker in the charts. Now, two years after their self-titled debut the band return to Glasgow with a second strong album under their belt, the recently released ‘Contra’.

Credit where credit is due, the band enjoying their third show at the Barrowlands, the first supporting The Shins, are here mainly on musical credit. Vampire Weekend have no rock star stage presence, no bad boy image, in fact as they saunter on stage to the sound of ‘Everybody Jump’ it seems almost ironic.

However, as the band open up the set with upcoming single ‘White Sky’ it is easy to imagine how the band has elevated to this level. The latest album’s lofty chart positions merited, peaking at number three in the UK charts, it does not carry as many instant pop gems as the debut, still the new effort holds together as an album in a cohesive fashion.

The self-titled album’s popularity drew from a selection of instantly catchy songs and these are the ones met with the most enthusiasm tonight. This is emphasised as the band move into their third track ‘Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa’ the crowd are upped a notch with vigorous dancing and a universal sing-along commencing.

A minor let down in VW’s set, in comparison to their last visit, is the lack of a charming cover song to finish off the night off. In their last visit they ended with a superb cover of Fleetwood Mac hit ‘Everywhere’. Now carrying two albums worth of material the band are capable of filling the set with their own material. Not that many are complaining about the end of tonight’s set as the band finish on arguably their strongest stand alone song in ‘Walcott’.

While VW now have a strong base of songs to count on you still can’t help but think they lack something live. Maybe this is unrealistic or maybe I’m basing my opinion on seeing bands in smaller venues that when I see a good band take to a bigger stage I expect it commanded like they would a smaller one. Ezra Koenig’s attempts to engage the crowd in banter seem somewhat awkward but still, I would not want to judge the band on this, like I said earlier VW are here on the strength of their music.

By the mid part of the set the hits start to come in full flow, led by their angriest sounding effort, the new albums lead single, ‘Cousins’, which ends explosively leaving the band to move into their most recognisable track ‘A-Punk’. From then on the crowd are jumping constantly as the band play through old favourites like ‘Mansard Roof’ and ‘Oxford Comma’ and new standouts like ‘Horchata’.

Whether or not VW deserve to be on a bigger stage more than some that aren’t is not something I will debate, the band are here on the merit of their music and that is credit enough. With two more than solid albums under their belt don’t expect VW to drop off the radar anytime soon.