NME Festival Guide 2008
The Great Escape

Vampire Weekend play intimate Great Escape show

Vampire Weekend, SXSW Music Festival, March 13, 2008.                      Pic: Jo McCaughey

Vampire Weekend, SXSW Music Festival, March 13, 2008. Pic: Jo McCaughey

Huge queues on the seafront for the New York band

Vampire Weekend played a headline show at the Great Escape festival last night (Thursday May 15) at the Concorde 2 venue.

The band played a 12-song set at at the MTV2-hosted bash at the small venue, including 'A-Punk' and current single 'Oxford Comma'.

Hundreds of bands were playing at venues across Brighton on the first day of the festival, with Vampire Weekend's show the hot event of the night.

Fans had been queuing up on the seafront hours before the doors of the venue opened to ensure they had a chance to catch the fast-rising prep-poppers in an intimate surrounding.

After taking the stage at 10pm (BST), a few songs into the set lead singer Ezra Koenig announced to the crowd, "That was the dancing part, now this is the singing part!", encouraging the audience to sing along to 'One', which they did loudly.

Fans in the audience included DJ Zane Lowe, who was compeering the event. The band ended their set with an amped-up 'Walcott', leaving the crowd cheering for more as the first day of action at the venue came to a close.

Vampire Weekend played:

'Mansard Roof'
'Campus'
'Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa'
'M79'
'Bryn'
'A-Punk'
'One'
'I Stand Corrected'
'Kids Don't Stand a Chance'
'Little Giant'
'Oxford Comma'
'Walcott'

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