As you may be aware, this is my second Concert Report post, the first one was of course back in June when I saw They Might Be Giants at First Ave. I don’t know if I’ll do another Concert Report any time soon, but I saw two this summer, and I get to do these. So, now we’ve got the format, the set-up, the avenue with which to tell my story. We’ve got the mechanism. Let’s do this!

John Loves Music
I can’t identify the exact time that I first heard their music, I just remember them always being around, really. They started in 2008 when I was unaware of the Indie Rock scene as a whole. I have distinct memories of listening to them in the car with my Dad. He had a bulging CD wallet that was always threatening to break open, and their first three CD’s, “Vampire Weekend”, “Contra”, and “Modern Vampires of the City” were my go-to picks every time. In Middle School when I tried to determine what my music taste was and embarked on many playlist compiling journeys, they were my go-to band. There was a clean, chirpy sensibility to their songs. The predominately upbeat melodies hid very introspective lyrics, especially as they evolved as a band.
My taste in music became much more important when I was in High School. It was and is a massive part of my identity as a person, the songs I listened to, the movies and shows I enjoyed, I took pride in being slightly off-center, in enjoying things that most people at school didn’t talk about or know about. Admittedly my way of expressing this was often through very popular well-known properties or things that just hadn’t found much notoriety at a small-town somewhat conservative school. How I Met Your Mother over F.R.I.E.N.D.S, Parks and Recreation over The Office, indie rock over rap or whatever the hell people listen to, comic books over sports, etc. Vampire Weekend is not entirely an off-kilter or less than popular band, but it fits in with my sensibilities. It made sense for a kid who knew more about Cary Grant and John Malkovich and the world of comics than talking to other people my age. I’m rambling.
The point is that by 2019, though I’d never questioned whether I should be interested in other things or talk less to make friends, I was well set in shamelessly loving what I did, regardless of whether I was the only high schooler in Mahtomedi who could recite Aziz Ansari’s comedy specials or present an opinion on which of the Hitchhiker’s Guide books was best, and this is when they dropped “Father of the Bride”, their fourth album. I was working at Best Buy at the time and had purchased some exceedingly bassy Skullcandy over-ear headphones that vibrated when I walked. I would turn the volume all the way up and wander around my room rocking out to “This Life” and “Harmony Hall”, two of the first singles on the album. I saw them in concert at the Armory back then, and it was a wonderful experience.
When this new album was announced and singles started dropping, I found myself waiting each night for the singles to drop, banging my head to full volume renditions of “Ice Cream Piano” and “Gen-X Cops”. It’s been a long five years since the last album and a whole lot has happened. I’m a very different person. And they’re a different band. But I was very psyched for this concert.

The Band
Vampire Weekend started when four guys met each other while attending Columbia University. Their names were Ezra Koenig, Rostam Batmanglij, Chris Tomson and Chris Baio. Baio’s a bassist, Tomson does drums. They became popular due to the internet and blogs hyping them up as excellent (Imagine that) and became fairly big pretty quickly. Their music style is sort of an indie rock fusion with an influence from world music, specifically African music, especially in their first albums. They were inspired heavily by the music of Paul Simon, who I am also a massive fan of. At the time in particular they were accused of cultural appropriation and being “The whitest band in the world” which I can slightly understand if you don’t listen past their song “Holiday” a song that is used in many cruise commercials and somewhat earns that, but the tone of the music does not denegrate their talent or change who they are and what they’re singing about. Also, as they said in response to that critic, they are Ukranian, Persian, Italian and Hungarian respectively. So that critique doesn’t quite work.
After “Modern Vampires of the City”, Rostam left the band to do his own solo albums, which I also enjoy. The two Chrises remained in the band officially but did their own solo albums as well. Ezra has never officially done his own solo album, though technically “Father of the Bride” is one, as neither of the Chrises play on the album, but they still went on the tour. That album is a bright, summery double album featuring a lot of collaborations with other artists like Danielle Haim.
Because of this, lots of fans say this new album is more of a new Vampire Weekend album than the last one was, and we technically waited twelve years, not five, but who’s counting.
Fun fact before we move on: Ezra is married to and has a child with Rashida Jones, star of my beloved show Parks & Rec and daughter of Quincy Jones. And before they were together, two of his songs were featured on the soundtrack for I Love You, Man, a Paul Rudd classic. Coincidence? Yes, absolutely.

The Concert
So the show was epic and wonderful. Five years ago I had been right at the front of the mosh pit and directly in front of the band, so I had no chance to explore the venue or eat the free pizza being served or use the restroom. Instead I spent the whole time filming the concert on my phone while I screamed “I LOVE YOU EZRA!!!” and “PLAY JONATHAN LOW!!!” This time, armed with a great new tote bag and a tour shirt designed by Bryan Lee O’Malley, the creator of Scott Pilgrim, I got to appreciate the wonderful air conditioning and the look of the venue. I got to appreciate the slightly gross food and the weird sweetened hamburger bun, and the fact that nearly half the men at the concert also had long hair and beards and I’d grown into my hipsterdom. Plus, as you can see, I had my black cap and trusty concert green flannel.
Five years ago, there were exclusive tour shirts for each state, and the Minnesota shirt was yellow with a Sweet Martha’s Cookies logo. Halfway through the show, Ezra brought Sweet Martha herself out on stage and they told us that there were 200 shirts on sale that night and all proceeds for the shirts would go toward the Saint Paul Public Library. Then bouncers passed out jars of cookies to the audience. At the end of the show giant beach balls painted like the Earth were released into the audience.
I wouldn’t say anything quite so spectacular happened during this show. The lights were somewhat epilepsy inducing and spectacular, and the backdrop on the stage was a giant Subway tunnel that they used to exit pre-encore. Mid-show they did a remix of the FOTB album opener “Married in a Gold Rush” that was more country and jazzy, called “Cocaine Cowboys”. It went for quite a while but I didn’t mind it. And they had a woman come up on stage and play cornhole. They gave her $500 when she sort of won. Overall it was an excellent show. Besides the tall idiot who decided midway through to stand on the steps in front of us even though he could see fine, I much more enjoyed watching from the steps halfway back than right in front. I had a White Claw, it was pretty good. I prefer a Smirnoff Ice.
For the encore they tried to play covers of various songs by other artists to different degrees of success. They tried “Purple Rain” but learned they knew none of the lyrics beyond the chorus and neither did the audience. I left a happy man. I enjoyed it much more than the 2019 performance because I knew what to expect this time around, though the 2019 show was more bombastic, more celebratory. Anyway, a great album. I wish they had played “Prep-School Gangsters” off the old album and “Oxford Comma” like they did at the set the next day, but I particularly enjoyed the performances of “Ice Cream Piano”, “Cousins”, and their 90’s punk rendition of “Bambina”. It was a very different show from They Might Be Giants, but I liked it more, it was a bigger show, with a much rockier vibe and the venue was air conditioned. Of course a tour for a new album in a giant venue is different from a quirky band with over 20 albums doing a small victory lap tour. But I loved them both for different reasons. What a wonderful summer of concerts had by all mes.

END OF REPORT

Miscellaneous Lyrics (Optional)
The word was weaponized as soon as it had passed your lips, I am a gentleman, I refuse to show my gentleness
Fuck around and find out, the angry child recites this every day, the universe will pry out the truth which is you’ve got nothin’ to say, in dreams I scream piano, I softly reach the high note, the world don’t recognize a singer who won’t sing
You talk of Serbians, whisper Kosovar Albanians, the boy’s Romanian, third generation Transylvanian, I see the vampires walkin’, don’t be gripped by fear, you aren’t next
We’re all the sons and daughters of vampires who drained the old world’s necks

You found a sweater on the ocean floor, they’re gonna find it if you didn’t close the door
You and the smart ones sit outside of their sight, in a house on a street they wouldn’t park on at night
Dad was a risk-taker his was a shoemaker, your greatest hits, 2006, little list-maker
Heard codes in the melody, you heeded the call, you were born with ten fingers and you’re gonna use them all

Baby I know dreams tend to crumble at extremes, I just thought our dream would last a little bit longer
There’s a time when every man draws a line down in the sand, we’re surviving, we’re still living I was stronger
You’ve been cheating on, cheating on me, I’ve been cheating on, cheating on you, you’ve been cheating on me, but I’ve been cheating through this life, and all its suffering
Oh Christ, am I good for nothing?

Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma?
I’ve seen those English dramas too, they’re cruel
So if there’s any other way, to spell the word, it’s fine with me, with me
Why would you speak to me that way?
Especially when I always said that I haven’t got the words for you, all your diction drippin’ with disdain
Through the pain, I always tell the truth

I was tired but wakin’ up I was dying to test my luck, prep-school gangsters barred the way there was nothin’ I could say
Call me jealous, call me mad, now I’ve got the thing you had, somewhere in your family tree, there was someone just like me

Got a little soul the world is a cold, cold place to be
Want a little warmth but who’s going to save a little warmth for me?
We know the fire awaits unbelievers all of the sinners the same
Girl, you and I will die unbelievers bound to the tracks of the train

Anger wants a voice, voices wanna sing, singers harmonize ’til they can’t hear anything
I thought that I was free from all that questionin’ but every time a problem ends another one begins
And the stone walls of Harmony Hall bear witness, anybody with a worried mind can never forgive the sight of wicked snakes inside a place you thought was dignified
I don’t wanna live like this but I don’t wanna die

Five years go by and a different John visits the same venue.