On Tuesday, Vampire Weekend played their first show in St. Petersburg to a sold out crowd at Jannus Landing. The band has been on the road for a good portion of this year, touring for their excellent second album, Contra, which was released back in January. I was thoroughly looking forward to this show.

I’ve seen Vampire Weekend twice before and was more than impressed. I’ve defended my liking of them to friends who discounted them as Paul Simon-loving Graceland-wannabes. (On a side note, I absolutely love Graceland and have listened to it countless times. It is one of the albums that made me want to play bass back in 1986. I know the album inside and out. I don’t understand how critics and writers can seriously compare the two.) Anyone with doubts about how good this band actually is would have been won over at either show. All four members are extremely proficient musicians and Ezra Koenig’s voice really is that rich and smooth in concert.

But there was something… no, a few things amiss at Tuesday’s show.

This was my first show at the revamped Jannus Landing. Maybe I’m just waxing nostalgic for the old Jannus, but it just seemed a little too posh. Sure it’s nice that they have real bathrooms, but something just didn’t feel right. Maybe it was that Vampire Weekend went on at 9:10pm, which seemed unnaturally early for a headliner to take the stage. I understand that shows at Jannus Landing have to be over by a certain time (which used to be 11pm on a weeknight; has that changed?), but it just didn’t feel right.

The crowd magnified that not-quite-right feeling I had. Sure, there were diehard fans at the show (myself included) but it was an odd mix of people. It’s wonderful that all walks of life can come together to share in a love one band. But it seemed that a good number of people were there to be seen rather than to enjoy the show. At times, I felt like I had accidentally wandered into some uber-snobby ultra-lounge with $200 bottles of vodka in the VIP area.

Where my first two issues have been my interpretations and opinions of what I observed, this next one is a fact. Many people at the show were preoccupied with what was happening up the street as the Rays battled the Rangers in game five of their ALDS. People were checking the score on their phones and chatter about the game could be overheard between songs. In what should have been a grand moment of bonding between the band and crowd, an attempted sing-along to "One (Blake’s Got A New Face)" garnered only about 50% participation from the audience. One day earlier or later and Vampire Weekend would have had the full attention of everyone at the show.

Now, on to the music…

As I previously stated, I’ve seen Vampire Weekend twice before. The first time was in 2008 at Firestone in Orlando. It was an amazing show. The second was in New York in 2009 when they played a few stripped down songs with a string section at Carnegie Hall during a benefit for Tibet House. Both shows, though vastly different, showcased the band’s musical prowess.

At Tuesday’s show, the band played well. They were, for the most part, tight and precise. But over all, it wasn’t great. Two songs off Contra fell flat in the live setting. The slow, pulsing "Taxi Cab" (which I love the album version of) was a snooze-fest. Any ground the band had made with the folks who had one eye on the Rays was lost. "Diplomat’s Son", the band’s foray into pseudo-dub came off as forced and just didn’t sound together. Beside that, the other songs were faithful recreations of the album versions, and that was part of the problem.

I’ve seen this very same band take successful liberties with song arrangements in the past; expanding a little on the recorded versions and using their skill to take it to the next level. That just didn’t happen.

For example, in the past, the band slowed down the verses to "Oxford Comma" and jumped into a raved-up almost double time feel for the choruses. Then, in the blink of an eye, back to the slowed down verse again. On Tuesday, "Oxford Comma" just didn’t carry the same punch that it had before. It was one steady tempo. In fact, it almost seemed that Koenig was trying to lead the band to step it up a little, but it just didn’t happen.

The band didn’t really hit their stride until the encore; which was "Horchata", "Mansard Roof", and "Walcott". They seemed a bit more energized and a little looser on stage. Maybe this was just an off night for Vampire Weekend. The show, for the most part was good, but not great. I know they can do better. I’ve seen them do better. I look forward to seeing them do better next time.

Check out photos from this concet here