Big Night Out 2013

Venue: Fort Canning Park, Singapore
Date: 30th January 2013
Promoter: LAMC Productions
Review by: Nadiah H.
Special Thanks: Andre, and the LAMC Productions team

LAMC Productions always manages to release jaw-dropping announcements of bands heading down to our little island and Big Night Out 2013 was definitely a mouth opener. With mirage rockers BAND OF HORSES, indie cuties VAMPIRE WEEKEND and indie rock classic YEAH YEAH YEAHS in the line-up, who could deny?

7PM: Band of Horses
Having arrived slightly late into the venue due to the terrorizing queues, I was forced to position myself at the far back. Contrary to many YouTube comments (they clearly haven’t watched these guys live), Band of Horses sounded so define from any angle. Their visual and auditory mashed especially well with Fort Canning Park as the venue. I mean, nothing beats “Is There A Ghost” being sung in front of stars and a full moon.

With that being said, “No One’s Gonna Love You More” was my personal favourite. Even after seven years, that song doesn’t get old. After more than an hour of blissful rock charisma and a Neil Young cover, brain splattered internally everywhere as the intro of “The Funeral” started playing. That song was definitely the anthem of a big night out.

9PM:Vampire Weekend
New York indie outfit Vampire Weekend did not keep the crowd waiting, taking the stage on schedule hitting it up immediately with ‘Cousins’ (no introduction, no whatever). I think the crowd took that as a cue to go into massive heaps of dance. Turning it up from his usual Oxford shirt and jeans, Ezra decided to go for the California Beach Boy look.

“Holiday” was a crowd sing-along and “A-Punk” got everyone going HEY! The whole 18-song set was consistently on fire. Even after five years going on, the boys remained true to their self on stage with Rostam Batmanglij working his magic behind the keyboards, Ezra Koening with his eccentric voice, Chris Baio’s signature dance moves, and Chris Tomson’s drumming modulation. I don’t know how they do it.

It was definitely bittersweet as Koening commented, “We end our sets with this song because it’s about leaving Cape Cod,” before bringing us into a sweet rendition of “Walcott”.

11PM: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Karen O was the star of the show, merging electric oomph and creating mad stage presence with the other two members of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Brian Chase and Nick Zinner. Looking like she brought a full wardrobe of fashion-statement outfits, Karen O certainly seemed her usual half-feral/half-sweetheart self.

It was the band’s second trip to Singapore and YYYs ensured that there was a healthy balance of material performed from all albums. It is unfortunate (for me) that only a few songs were played from my personal favourite, “It’s Blitz!”. However, they did make it up by playing killer renditions of “Heads Will Roll” and “Zero”.

Main crowd pleaser? “Maps” during encore, of course! Beneath a huge floating eyeball, a woman with zebra prints and confetti at her disposal is hypnotizing the crowd with her lyrics “They don’t love you like I love you”. The band then decided to mash their closing song ‘Date With The Night” with some heavy instrument damage. Then again, nothing says goodbye like destroying a microphone.

Approved!