Vampire Weekend: Some Thoughts

On Wednesday night I saw Vampire Weekend for the first time at their second sold-out night at Bowery Ballroom. Perhaps at the peak of their hype cycle, they only released their first album this week, though I have been listening to them on a near-daily basis for the last three months. This is what I was thinking about when I watched them.

1. An ampitheater or stadium in July, get fucked up in the car, hemp necklace. On a summer night when you are 16 or even 19, this would be a night to remember. This could be the next Dave Matthews Band.

2. Dayyan (sp?). Younger brother of Kalim. His parents gave their three sons the middle names Summerday, Winterday, and Autumnday. They are from New Hampshire. Vampire Weekend is Dayyan embodied in musical/ performance form. Dayyan is maybe 22 now. He went to the New School Jazz program. Over summer vacation in New Hampshire, he bought a boat on eBay so that he could sail around for kicks. I think he bought the boat so that he could legitly wear boat shoes. Affected but dreamy.

3. This is like seeing the Strokes at Mercury Lounge in early 2001 (I actually got a fake ID in order to go), Clap Your Hands Say Yeah in a basement in Park Slope in 2005. Pop in its purest, tightest form. This article made me listen to Neil Diamond outside of a karaoke setting.

4. I used to babysit a kid named Nick. I couldn't help but think that he would be really cute when he grew up. I think I was 16 and he was 13, and I thought that once we were in our twenties that age difference wouldn't be nasty anymore. Watching Vampire Weekend brings me back to that thought.

5. On that note, I am feeling like Mrs. Robinson. They are Paul Simon & Dustin Hoffman. We are all the Graduate. re: suspended adolescence

6. In 1997 I went to the H.O.R.D.E. Tour to see Neil Young. The festival was held in Scranton, PA at Montage Mountain, and it rained all day. I watched the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Soul Coughing, Leftover Salmon, others. People skanked in mud. I wanted to skank. I think I tried and failed. The first time I smoked pot was in the car ride on the way home listening to the Beatles. When I got home I was suspicious that my mother knew I was high, but she never said a word.

7. Brown University Spring Weekend 2002, when I realized that polo shirts were not just an ironic statement. Some people actually wore them earnestly. A guy I liked was going to an Ani DiFranco concert with a girl that night. I watched the Roots on the quad. Jayson says Plastic Little (who opened for VW, along with Aa) got a higher rating on Pitchfork than fellow Philadelphians the Roots (below Man Man, above the Roots were his words).

8. I love watching them, it is joyous. I've noticed in photos before: their guitars, worn high, are too big for their bodies. They are swallowed up by their guitars. They are more boyish onstage than off, they could be the indie rock Hanson. All I think about is being a teenager. Why do I love Vampire Weekend? They synthesize many of the things I hate about myself and make it ok. They make me love the bad stupid things and just accept—or even celebrate—these things for what they are.





9. This is just as good as I hoped or imagined it would be.