Ra Ra Riot w/ Vampire Weekend, Kentish Town Forum

Date: 26/10/08
Rating:

If you made it to a festival this summer you would have surely heard, and if lucky enough seen, Vampire Weekend. One of the most hyped bands at the start of the year, they thankfully didn't let it all go to their heads. Instead the New York boys have been winning over fans with their infectious off kilter preppie punk. But before they head back to warmer climes, the quartet held residence at London's Kentish Town Forum.

Tonight was the last of their three night tenure, but before they bid farewell to London, hotly tipped Ra Ra Riot are set to play. Despite Transport For London's best attempts to stop fans arriving to the show on time, Ra Ra Riot appear on the smoke-filled stage to a very receptive and packed Forum. Wesley Miles meekly greets the crowd, before starting their set off with 'Each Year'. The melancholic strings provide an interesting contrast to the upbeat tempo and harmonies, but the vocals just seem too low. As the set continues their musical influences become very clear - their sound is clearly derived from Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene. The music remains upbeat and poignant, especially on 'A Manner To Act', but the vocals remain too muffled and you just get the feeling that the message is lost somewhere.

After a very long interlude Vampire Weekend bound onto the stage amidst an illuminated cloud of smoke to loud cheers, and, with little introduction, launch straight into 'Mansard Roof'. They have now had time to polish their sound, delivering each song with aplomb, yet thankfully they don't come across as being laboured. They continue with fan favourites 'Campus' and surely one of the songs of the summer, 'A Punk', which instigates crowd surfing. The middle of the set does suffer slightly, as Ezra Koenig brings the tempo of the proceedings down slightly. But it quickly picks up with 'Blake's Got a New Face', during which with the frontman urges the crowd to sing the chorus back to him.

They depart the stage to the sound of loud applause and shouts for more but surely with only one album they don't have enough in their locker to continue. But out they come and play one of the most surprising yet impressive covers ever heard - Fleetwood Mac's 'I Wanna Be With You Everywhere', which goes down an absolute storm.

Chris Cummins