Vampire Weekend, Alexandra Palace, review: the end of the world has never sounded so nice – The Telegraph

Vampire Weekend are trying to say something interesting, but their fans havent quite noticed yet.

In London, halfway through the bands European tour on Wednesday night, the most excitable response still came for decade-old songs - such as irresistible pogo-along A-Punk - from their sunny, self-titled debut album.

When they started out, the buttoned-down US band did one thing and did it exceptionally well. Pairing spindly indie pop-rock with African influences (filtered down through Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel), Vampire Weekend was the defining sound of summer 2008.

But new double-album Father of the Bride - their first record in six years - is a more globe-trotting project, as hinted at by the enormous Earth spinning behind the seven-piece band at Alexandra Palace.

Its an album that draws on everything from country-folk (on the drippy Hold You Now, a sensible moment to nip out for a mid-gig beer) to Spanish flamenco on the unexpected highlight of the set, Sympathy.

With its driving rhythm guitars, abrupt loud-soft dynamics and atmospheric synth, Sympathy expanded to fill Ally Pallys cavernous (and acoustically tricky) space, standing out as the only track from the album that sounded noticeably better live than on record.

There is another reason for that spinning globe; lead singer-songwriter Ezra Koenig has the fate of the planet on his mind. Until now, he was best known for singing in a pure croon, all sweetness and light, about the mild troubles of Louis Vuitton-clad bright young things. That one of his early hits was a song called Oxford Comma (which inspired a giddy mass singalong on Wednesday) gave a sense of the scale of his concerns.

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Vampire Weekend, Alexandra Palace, review: the end of the world has never sounded so nice - The Telegraph

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero