Daveportivo's Cultural Evaluation Facility

I'm never one to turn down a free gig, especially when it's the brilliant Vampire Weekend offering to showcase some choice cuts from their sophmore LP Contra. Now for those of you who don't know, Somerset House while a regular venue for gigs, is anything but you're typical arena. The first fifty people are given tickets to watch the gigs while ice skating, yes Ice Skating, and rather than performing on a stage in front of the adoring masses, they were instead playing from the balcony of one London's most beautiful Georgian houses. The crowd was broken up into sections by an ice rink, and a series of classical statues and fountains, with classical architecture enclosing the audience on all sides. The scene was more reminiscent of the pope's address to St. Peter's Square than a dirty dank Brixton Academy rock show.

A unique atmosphere was created. Due to it's location in central London, in close proximity to universities and local businesses, the volume was hardly blaring, but a soft sound was far more suited to the occasion. Furthermore being a free gig it drew a mixed crowd, a big passionate crowd at the front, and then a mamoth amount of passers by, intrigued new comers and confused skaters. They certainly drew a crowd in the thousands, and given two days notice I was rather surprised, and impressed with their pulling power. Of course this unusual fan base and the distance didn't suit great crowd interaction but Erza did his best to connect to a crowd so far away. Vampire Weekend were booked to play six tracks but in fact treated the crowd to a hour long set showing off a mix of old and new.

They opted for the softer elements of Contra which seemed a wise choice given the occasion. White Sky opened proceedings and was just as ethereal and though provoking as on record, Holiday gained new life live a potential summer festival anthem and California English also seemed somehow grander live, it may have been the occasions and the surrounding but it was a perfect fit. Horchata the track I was most looking forward to hearing was tragically cut short when the generator cut suddenly (I would be reviewing The Road later but unfortunately I had a power cut at the cinema too), the first half seem tantalizing but the power literally blew as they were about to let the west African drums kick in. Somehow this only added to the bizarre anachronistic charm of the whole affair. Paradoxically as this was both a more stripped down and intimate affair, despite the distance, we were treated to a more casual version of M83 but without the orchestral arrangement it's could only disappoint. A-Punk and Cousins provided a riotous mid section to the gig, and when those two tracks are unleashed back to back in the summer festival fields while be ripped to shreds. Oxford Comma and of course a heart warming and surprisingly effective rendition of Cape Cod Cowasa stole the show and were ideal for a cool summer's night.

Despite the power cuts, a crowd made mostly of new comers and a quiet sound system, this free gig remained a triumph. Set in beautiful surroundings, and playing a collection of shimmering feel good calypso pop they captured the mood and essence of the occasion perfectly. It's not the best gig I've ever been to, far from it, but it was never meant to be, it was an experience, a hybrid and on it's own terms it succeeded with a rough around the edges charm. The evidence certainly suggests that given a bigger stage and free from volume constraints Vampire Weekend will once again run rampant across the world's biggest stages, now we just have to cross our fingers and hope for sun (Isle Of Wight can't come around fast enough).