A free, fervent fusion of indie rock and rap

What does it take to get Columbia kids to gather en masse on campus? As Saturday’s Bacchanal spring concert proved, warm weather and two famous musicians performing for free will do the trick.

Columbians clad in T-shirts and shorts flooded Low Plaza for a chance to see CU alums’ rock band Vampire Weekend and rapper Talib Kweli take the stage for a much-needed afternoon of relaxation. Students with paper bag-encased bottles of dubious content sang along to songs they knew (because everyone likes to brag that the now-famous Vampire Weekend went to their college) and danced to Kweli’s insatiable beats, as a decidedly illicit scent wafted through the air.

The first to perform, Vampire Weekend made a point of referencing old Columbia memories, such as the time Ghostface Killah played in the rain at the spring concert. Though the band has played at Columbia a few times since its members graduated, performing on such familiar territory is still a unique experience. “It’s definitely a special thing,” said keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij, CC ’06, of performing at Columbia.

Talib Kweli followed Vampire Weekend, and got the presumably overheated crowd moving. Though some knew all the lyrics to Kweli’s songs, many others did not—and got down anyway. Inviting “b-boys and b-girls” to the stage, Kweli’s performance was interactive, causing an audience of stressed-out students to get surprisingly rowdy.

Perhaps the biggest shock was Kweli’s offhand announcement that his brother, Jamal Greene, is a professor at Columbia Law School. When he asked if anybody listened to hip-hop music, the hands that waved in the air and the emphatic screams of assent that ensued proved that as an entertainer, he had done his job.

The Bacchanal committee, it was clear, had also done theirs.

“The whole campus is here, people are everywhere. It’s better than I ever expected,” said Alex Kirk, CC ’11, the future co-president of Bacchanal along with Jody Zellman, GS ’11, who draws weekly cartoons for the Spectator.

Last year’s Bacchanal spring concert was indoors and featured indie bands The National and Grizzly Bear. Due to limited seating and the fact that the concert took place on a weekday evening, the event lacked the turnout that this year’s boasted. Barnard Student Government Association Sophomore Class President Reni Calister, BC ’11, did not even attend last year’s concert: “It was on a bad day ... I had something else to do that was kind of required, so I knew about it, but I didn’t go.”

This year, however, Calister was impressed by the concert. “It’s a beautiful day, it’s outside, and Vampire Weekend and Talib Kweli... [...] It’s optimal,” she said.

Though the concert was intended for Columbia students, audience members from New York University and elsewhere could not resist the lineup and the prospect of a day outside on Columbia’s campus. “It’s a lovely day and Vampire Weekend are great,” said Dalton High School student Lily Wen, who was invited by a friend who is a student at Barnard. Low Plaza was full of people who appeared to have randomly, but happily, joined the crowd.

Bacchanal co-president Jeremy Reich, CC ’09, attributed the large turnout in part to the choice of artists. “We tried to have a diversity of artists,” Reich said of the very different styles of Vampire Weekend and Kweli. “We think that that attracts a wide group because they’re both sort of well-known in their fields. So we’re happy about that.”

For the members of Bacchanal, however, the concert is just the beginning of a week’s worth of activities, and Reich hopes that the enthusiasm it garnered will carry over to the remaining events.

The group is already planning ahead for next year’s concert, but remaining characteristically tight-lipped about its artists.

“We have ideas floating around, nothing I can say yet,” Zellman said.