Why so serious?

I hate to borrow a line from the late, great Heath Ledger’s Joker, but after seeing the guys of Vampire Weekend at their most amped and energetic on Tuesday night, that’s kind of what I want to say to those VW-bashers who seem to harbor such antipathy for the boys from Columbia. What’s not to like?

“It’s exciting to be here again at our favorite place to play. And it’s nice to put out a record.” — Ezra Koenig

I guess so. For the past year and a half, Ezra, Rostam, Chris and Chris have played in almost every significant rock venue in New York, from Glasslands to Webster — but they returned to their club of choice, Bowery Ballroom, to launch their biggest tour to date, and to celebrate — at long last — the release of their debut album. For early VW converts, these songs have been around for a long time, even more so for the band, but on this night even the “oldies but goodies” as Ezra called ‘em, like “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” and “Oxford Comma,” had new life.

“Thanks for being here. This is the city where our record was conceived. And midwived.”

Times are good for VW. XL Records has given them what has to be the splashiest debut in the indie label’s history, obviously putting faith in the guys’ potential for a pop breakthrough the likes of which we have not seen in a long time from a band this clever. And there’s nothing wrong with getting a little education along with your boppin’ around either. Koenig’s often impenetrable smarty-pants lyrics reference everything from Dharamsala, India, to Sloan-Kettering cancer hospital, from “kefir on your keffiyah” to Hyannisport and Benneton, Peter Gabriel and Lil Jon. Good stuff.

“This one is an audience-participation song. And it’s for all the teenagers here tonight.”

No fools, these VW boys — they know their appeal skews young and old, so it was a 16+ show to kick off the tour. And Ezra dedicated one of the more fun songs in the set, the call-and-response “One (Blake’s Got a New Face),” to the kids in the house. But with VW — especially in NYC — there are plenty of sing-along (or yelp-along) moments. There’s the “oy!” chant in the frantic single “A-Punk” (of which Koenig proudly told the crowd, “We had the honor of playing that song for Paris Hilton today”) and the “whooaaa” chant of the addictive “M79,” with its hoedown harpsichord and strings, compliments of Rostam Batmanglij, who had his own personal cheering section throughout the night.

Other high points included my personal VW fave, the syncopated “Bryn,” the very inspiration for whom apparently was in the audience, according to Rostam, and a brand-new song the band played live for the first time. YouTube lists the title as “White Skies,” though apparently this may well be subject to change. Rostam took over on guitar for this one, allowing Ezra to concentrate on a yelping hook that can best be transcribed as “oww-ooh,” though that doesn’t do it justice. Whatever it’s called, it’s another VW winner.

“Some of you were at our first show ever, and it means a lot to us to be here again tonight for this one. Thank you all for coming.”

And with that the boys bade this special show good night with “Walcott,” maybe still Vampire Weekend’s finest three and a half minutes to date, a shimmering piano-driven tune of desperate departure from the preppy peninsula of Cape Cod. No worries, boys — with this kind of busy year ahead of you, you can stay out of Cape Cod tonight, and for many nights to come.

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