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GIG REVIEW: White Williams and Vampire Weekend
If your are in a band and are asked to support Vampire Weekend on tour, be warned, you may have been chosen just to make them look good.
That's certainly how it feels with White Williams - four white guys with no particular kind of look other than couldn't-really-be-bothered.
Musically they're coming from a similar place to the headliners - smart, outward-looking guitar pop with playful global influences - but instead of ending up with Vampire Weekend's clever, fun and unashamedly melodic afrobeat-heavy sound they've got hook-free, half-formed, extended jams that never get groovy or particularly interesting.
The 'fun' extras - disco toms from the drummer's electronic drum pad and the occasional appearance of a mellodion - just confuse matters, and with the heavy echo on the vocals lends a curious karaoke vibe to the performance.
When Vampire Weekend finally take to the stage, it is in front of an audience who must be wondering quite how their eponymous debut album - complete with adventurous musical detail, twiddly guitar motifs and Ski Sunday-style classical flourishes - will translate to the live arena.
The answer, as the band swiftly demonstrate, is with aplomb.
They open with their jaunty first single Mansard Roof - possibly the only song named after an obscure architectural feature - before whipping through Campus, Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa and M79 - possibly the only song named after a bus route.
The four-piece prove themselves to be accomplished musicians. While never getting anywhere near rocking out - it wouldn't be appropriate for such poised, considered material - the band still give a spirited performance. Singer Ezra Koenig quickly proves he can cut it live, his voice as melodic and characterful as it is on record. He's also comfortable with easy banter between the songs.
Before playing A-Punk Koenig he suggests that the crowd do a "mild pogo", and then he encourages some audience participation for the call-and-response vocals in One (Blake's Got A New Face). The crowd are happy to oblige, although not everyone reaches the notes that the band manage on the album!
Koenig explains how the band are pleased to be playing in a city that has resonant musical connections for them. The crowd seem largely nonplussed at his mention of the Mekons, but they're with him on The Who's Live At Leeds.
The band then play I Stand Corrected and current single Oxford Comma - possibly the only song about an obscure grammatical device.
Considerate to the last, Koenig then informs us that the track Walcott will be their very last number they play and when they leave the stage there won't be any have-they-really-gone-or-will-there-be-an-encore fannying about.
The band exit to the sort of rapturous applause you'd expect from a crowd that's been blown away. Admirably, Vampire Weekend have managed it not with volume, but with endearing charm.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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