Vampire Weekend ease themselves into sunset slot at Reading 2014

The sunset slot at Reading & Leeds is usually embraced with every inch of being by any band being handed the role, but Vampire Weekend more slither and slide towards the prize.

They turn up smart - top button up and all - and gratefully say thanks. Ezra Koenig and co. aren’t the type to go barmy at their new status as a Massive Deal. It’s just not in their style.’Ya Hey’ is less a bonafide anthem, more something that’s gradually embraced. There’s a sleepy style to how the New Yorkers go about things, as there should be when they’re singing about falafel shops and time on a ‘Campus’.

Running through the best parts of their three records, it’s immediately clear that despite the gems they fledge, they’re not quite ready to make the step up to headliners. It probably wasn’t on their agenda anyway. Resolute and perfectly happy with their current routine, they sleepily steer through ‘Oxford Comma’ to ‘Giving Up the Gun’ like these are just any other songs. Few words are uttered in between tracks, and given the big billing this is a pretty reserved set. Any other band might be accused of crawling out their shell, but Vampire Weekend seem content to be the introverted types they’re best known for being.