Vampire Weekend get their groove on at FolkFest
Photo courtesy of Rebecca Potter
WHEN I VENTURED out to the Ottawa Folk Festival for Vampire Weekend’s Sept. 5 show, I owned 12 of their songs. As I write this just 15 hours later I own every song they’ve ever released.
You could say they made an impression.
Currently touring in support of their latest album, Modern Vampires of the City, Vampire Weekend opened their set with 2009’s mega-hit ‘Cousins’, in what seemed like a gentle but one-time reminder of who they are as hit-makers.
Lead singer, Ezra Koenig tore through the band’s new and classic tunes with an unshakable easy confidence that resulted in shrieks from the front rows of the crowd who were clearly there to worship at the vampire altar.
Bassist, Chris Baio, was endlessly entertaining as he spent the nearly two-hour set jamming and dancing with his guitar, keeping the crowd smiling and cheering the entire time.
Throughout their performance groups of people in the crowd were breaking off to dance their hearts out to the toe-tapping, body-swaying, booty-shaking hybrid of instrumentation that Vampire Weekend is famous for.
“I see some familiar faces in the crowd,” Koenig said before their final song of the evening, encouraging fans to sing along as the lights scattered across the festival grounds, “it’s been so nice meeting you, Ottawa, hopefully we’ll see you again soon.”
The feeling is mutual, boys, and thanks for the groove.
