Almost a foot of snow questioned whether or not the afro-pop quintet Vampire Weekend would play to anyone at the Brighton Centre on Wednesday, but thankfully it was business as usual, and the show would go on. They come on stage dressed in jeans and shirts, whilst the Berghaus clad crowd still shiver, waiting for some feeling in their feet, before getting them moving.

‘Holiday’ and ‘White Sky’ from the band’s critically acclaimed second album ‘Contra’ provide an excellent, up beat, opening ceremony that gradually gets everyone’s hands out of their gloves and into the air. Initially looking quite stiff and awkward on stage, possibly feeling the cold too, the New Yorkers slowly loosen up, and before launching into their next song, lead singer Ezra Koenig thanks the audience for braving the weather and making it to the gig.

Lead single ‘Cousins’ provides a fast paced, energetic centre piece, followed soon by their breakthrough song ‘A-Punk’ which really gets those cold feet moving. For the encore, ‘Horchata’, a merry winter tale that could not be more fitting than on this night, the architecturally ardent ‘Mansard Roof’ and then the band’s typical finale, the brilliant, ever crescendoing ‘Walcott’ which leaves the crowd with a tune to hum out into the snow.

As well as providing top notch songs, being polite is one of the things Vampire Weekend have become synonymous with, and we’ve got to agree. Throughout the course of the show the band thanks everyone for coming again, ask if everybody is feeling ok, if they’re having a good time; and while some bands will play through their set not muttering a word – ‘Oh, how mysterious’. Vampire Weekend are just having a bit of fun, and they want everyone to be part of it, and you can’t fault that.

VAMPIRE WEEKEND
BRIGHTON CENTRE
1/12/2010

WORDS BY JAKE CUNNINGHAM