I’m jealous of how much Peter Bjorn and John love their jobs. The Swedish band recently embarked on a short, 13-date US “Birthday Tour” to celebrate their 10-year anniversary of making contagious, sophisticated indie-poprok goodness. Even though things got off to a slow start Saturday night at the tour’s final stop at Club Nokia in LA, they didn’t stay that way for long.

Guitarist Peter Moren, bassist Bjorn Yttling, and drummer John Eriksson ably flailed about the stage, instruments in hand (including, at one point, drum stands), with the stamina and vigor of 16-year-olds in a Kiss cover band. Writer’s Block’s “Amsterdam” proved a bit of a weak opener, but PB&J quickly settled into the stage and pumped out an intensely spirited set of their career highlights. And, despite the aforementioned flailing, did it without missing a note.

The birthday celebration included a few special guests, among them the LA Ladies Choir (who helped add Living Thing’s “Just the Past” and “Nothing to Worry About” to the highlights list for the night) and fellow Swede Lykke Li, who joined the band to sing Victoria Bergsman’s parts on their 2006/2007 hit (and My Poproks #35 song of the decade), “Young Folks” (Li had previously sung on the track live at this year’s Coachella set).

The preeminent story of the night, though, was the band’s genuine, non-stop enthusiasm, which resulted in Moren’s dramatic collapse to the floor before the encore. He was fine, and somehow mustered up the energy to play for another half hour. “Turns out we still have a lot of time left,” muttered Moren buoyantly into the microphone post-midnight, “so, we’re just gonna keep playing.” Then, while the final notes of closer (and favorite) “Objects Of My Affection” were still ringing out, Moren announced his departure for the merch booth, jumped off the stage, and proceeded to sign autographs until nearly 1am.

While many of the songs translated live with a heavier guitar influence than exists on the band’s recent albums (including a few Kiss loving solos), and, for most of the set, were limited to 3 musicians, the band’s quirky, catchy arrangements still sounded flawless and phenomenal. Between Yttling’s eccentric stumbling and off-beat hand gestures, Moren’s rabid dancing/hopping/shaking, and the band’s excessively sing-a-longable melodies, I’d say it was a pretty great Birthday party.

For a 10-year-old band, they don’t look a day over three.

Elizabeth Stolfi
www.mypoproks.com

In front of a crowd of about 200, the young New York City band wasted no time getting into new material, opening with long-time live staple, “White Sky,” which will appear on Contra. Other new tracks included “Holiday,” “California English,” “Run,” and “Cousins,” which is heavy on the surf guitar and quickly becoming my new favorite. The new single, “Horchata” (‘dedicated to Lola’s across the street,’ where they apparently have really good horchata), sounded particularly tight for a new addition.

The small crowd was extremely easy to interact with, evident when keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij started talking about Bradley Nowell and asked if anyone had seen Sublime back in the day (someone actually raised their hand, but, you know, those people are always lying). Lead singer Ezra Koenig addressed almost everything shouted out at him, including incessant demands for “Horchata” and handshakes.

Musically, the band pulls off their fast-paced, intricately recorded tracks extremely well, though many of the more challenging songs were obviously slowed down for easier playing (“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” for its lead guitar lick, especially). The keyboards were, on occasion, a lackluster substitute for the string sections on the self titled record (“M79″ comes to mind), but Batmanglij still makes it work.

The best moment of the show came during “A-Punk,” when the small handful of people who could fit in the standing area started dancing after being asked very politely by Koenig to “move a little.” It was kind of odd to see less than 30 people dancing at a show to a song that was charting on the Billboards not too long ago. The extremely intimate setting made it seem more like a house party than a concert, and a band that’s used to headlining festivals of late had an overwhelming command of the small stage. Overall, it was a solid, energetic 14 song set that included almost exactly half of each album.

VW continues their tiny venue California run on Thursday at Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace (and I wasn’t exaggerating about the one Starbucks thing, I just checked Google maps). Contra is due January 12, and also threatens to be another early Album of the Year choice. Vampire Weekend make blogging easy.

Elizabeth Stolfi
www.mypoproks.com

HEADS UP
Vampire Weekend @ Pappy and Harriet’s, Pioneertown Thu Nov 5
Vampire Weekend + ??? @ Lomita VFW Hall Post 1622 Sat Nov 14

MORE WEEKEND VAMPIRES
Vampire Weekend, Secret Show, Chinatown, Halloween 2009 (by Sung)

I had previously seen the band in festival settings, including 2008’s Siren Fest at Coney Island and this summer’s Jelly Pool Party in Williamsburg (also with Grizzly Bear). With music better suited for a small indoor venue, the change of setting made a world of difference for the band’s live sound, which seemed a bit overly washed out from the end of Stillwell Avenue. The addition of a live drummer succeeded in bulking up the drum machine lead tracks, adding a slow, steady punch to the band’s earlier material.

Highlights from the set included “Used to Be” from their debut Subpop 7″ (which, as Legrande so eloquently explained, is ‘about change’), and other muchly enjoyed new songs from their upcoming 3rd full length, Teen Dream (“Norway(?)” and [Title Unknown(?)]). Stand out tracks from 2008’s Devotion, including the singles “Gila” and “Heart of Chambers,” were especially alluring/dreamy.

As for Grizzly Bear, the Band of the Year continues to wow their own fans with impeccable live performances full of spot-on four-part harmonies and songs that Brian Wilson wishes he had written. The band’s atmospheric arrangements resonated wonderfully through-out the bowl shaped Los Angeles venue. Legrande joined midway through to perform Veckatimest’s “Two Weeks” (she’s featured on the recording as well), and their duet, “Slow Life,” from the Twilight: New Moon deal.

Lead singer, Ed Droste, was sure to thank the band’s lighting tech, who, as they pointed out, was amazingly talented. The stage had been set up with glass jars hanging from 3 different stands, all with lightbulbs inside that went on and off in different patterns for different songs. It was appropriately subtle, yet mesmerizing; much like Grizzly Bear’s stage presence themselves.

After a truly enthralling set, including the classic pop of “While You Wait For the Others,” the devastating beauty of “Foreground” (literally heard a few “wows” after that one) and the intense build of “Lullabye,” the band returned for an encore of “He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)” from their 2007 Friends EP. The haunting, slow-paced 60’s cover turned out to be a fitting, low key ending to the night.

The Ultimate Chillfuzz Tour (not the real name) finishes up in San Diego tonight, with Beach House then heading to Spain for Primevera Sound, and Grizzly Bear to Europe just in time to ride that Veckatemist UK/EU Special Edition release into next year. Albumoftheyear, albumoftheyear, albumoftheyear.

Not sure how many different ways I can express how good these bands are. I don’t know how to talk about music.

Elizabeth Stolfi
www.mypoproks.com

Losanjealous officially welcomes Liz to the west coast, hailing from Brooklyn!
More Liz here.