Last Wednesday, The Rapture and Tanlines hit the stage for the first Vans House Party of the year. Presented by FYF, each show is free with an online RSVP, open to all ages of the public, and hosted at the House of Vans, a 25,000 square foot warehouse at 25 Franklin St. For those of you who don’t know, the Vans House Parties are the greatest event ever- well, at least the best event that I’ve been to in Greenpoint all year.
Make sure to show up early, because the line gets a bit long (it stretched all the way to N 11th). But don’t worry, once you’ve waited out the line there are some incredible rewards waiting for you.
The Brooklyn based, electro-indie duo, Tanlines, were the first to take the stage (after a warm-up DJ set by JDH & Dave P) and they immediately got the crowd excited. Highlights included their 2010 single “Real Life”, and “All of Me” from their debut LP Mixed Emotions. One weird quirk of their set that I hadn’t seen at a concert before was that the frontman wasn’t the vocalist Eric Emm, but rather the keyboardist/percussionist Jesse Cohen, who took the reigns on all of the crowd interactions.
After Tanlines’ stellar set, The Rapture took control of the bated fans and kept the energy up without missing a beat. Their infectious dance-punk sound permeated throughout the warehouse and had the grinning, sweaty crowd (did I mention it was about 95 degrees inside?) jumping up and down with their hands in the air by the end of the set. When they broke into “How Deep Is Your Love?” for their encore, the entire place erupted. It was the perfect ending note for an amazing event.
Be sure that you’re at the next one, July 12th, featuring H20, 7 Seconds and more to be announced. RSVP at the Vans House Parties website. If you can’t make it to the show, watch the live stream on the site, or go to any of the other four shows planned throughout the summer. Make it to at least one, and I promise you won’t be disappointed.