Changing Vibes

On a late Sunday afternoon, March 23, 2008, BART took me into San Francisco to see indie-rock band Vampire Weekend play at the Rickshaw Stop. This was my third show at the venue, and I had by then been familiarized with its easily identifiable traits.

On the outside, there exists no real signage marking its location to the random passersby. On the inside, the place has a charming, albeit slightly dirty, dive bar ambiance. It's small, no more then 500 people could comfortably fit inside. Upon entering, a mad dash must be made upstairs to secure an invaluable spot on one of the old sweat-stained couches. Actually enjoying watching concerts inside of a cramped, stuffy and occasionally smelly place probably seems unnatural to some. The general sentiment amongst the young and pretentious hipster contingency that pack in there every single night is that the Rickshaw Stop is the only place to see your favorite band's gig.

This band, during that time, happened to be a favorite of mine. Vampire Weekend was formed Feb. 6, 2006, by lead singer Ezra Koenig. Shortly after their signing onto XL Records and releasing their self-titled debut album Jan. 29, 2008, the band started to obtain a fair amount of commercial success. Vampire Weekend's album peaked at 17 on the Billboard Top 200 and reached 15 on the UK Top Albums Chart. All the unprecedented popularity they garnered from having their singles played on the radio meant one thing in particular; they were too big to play at a venue like Rickshaw Stop ever again.

A great deal of the more pompous crowd at Rickshaw probably lost all interest in the band after having broken the mainstream barrier. There's no point in calling them sell-outs, Vampire Weekend were successful right out of the gates. Having a couple new groupies isn't detrimental as long as the music stays the same. Apparently it has, given the success of their recently released sophomore album, Contra. The tour that the band is doing to promote the album comes to venues that are appropriate to their new status, thus, Rickshaw Stop isn't on the agenda. As chance would have it, a friend approached me with extra tickets to see Vampire Weekend live at Berkley's Greek Theatre last Saturday.

The Greek Theatre in Berkley is a unique venue, to say the least. One of the first major differences is the fact that it's outside, which creates some weird acoustic effects, terrible echoing being one of them. It gives the impression of being a huge colosseum, a place that you're more likely to watch gladiators battle to the death then wimpy indie-rockers perform. Sizeable concrete slabs stretch out from the area in front of the stage to 50 feet behind it, and are built to seat a large amount of people. Even further back than that is a slippery slope covered with grass, comprised of people comfortably sprawled out on picnic blankets and lawn chairs.

Vampire Weekend played well, much in the same way that they did at the Rickshaw. The only problem caused by their mark of fame has been the change of venue. In a venue like this, the intimacy is non-existent. The sheer distance between the concert-goer and the band breaks down any sort of connection. It makes it harder to be genuinely interested when the stage is blockaded by a sea of greasy hair and dancing hippies. Half of the people were more engaged in talking, texting, and getting inebriated in one form or another then actually listening to the music. The crowd of Rickshaw may not be the most pleasant group, but at least they're interested.

The music hasn't changed, but the presence of screaming girls holding up signs with, "I HEART U EZRA!" scribbled on them could potentially be an adverse effect of all that recent attention.