Vampire Weekend, Manchester Academy One

It is undeniable that Vampire Weekend are a brilliant band. They’ve got the tight-knit set, the disjointed drumming and the perfect pop-song length. Songs like ‘I Stand Corrected’ and ‘Ladies of Cambridge’ exemplify perfectly not only talented, if odd, song-writing but also an acute awareness of tempo and rhythm. Yet there is something lacking. Perhaps it is the size of the venue even though the songs fill the place with unadulterated American preppiness; more likely it is the audience’s unwillingness to just let go and dance. Each song is greeted with enthusiastic cheers yet the amount of movement extends to a bit of head nodding and polite foot-tapping. Even for the raucous and probably best know song ‘A Punk’ there isn’t the mauling expected- not a crowd surfer in sight.

This isn’t really a fault of the band though; their set is near perfection with obviously well-rehearsed songs hitting not one bum note. ‘Oxford Comma’ hops about whilst ‘Mansard Roof’ demonstrates the use of synth is integral to their sound and there is a melancholy about ‘Campus’ which has a heady mix of summery sounds and wistful remembering.

The band are 100% polite, the kind of guys you’d take home to meet your parents and two days later they would be begging for you to marry them. Profuse thanks echo out of the microphones between each song and they deserve a sold out show like this - just perhaps with a less lethargic audience.