Last Thursday, Vampire Weekend took Chinatown by surprise, putting on a concert performance for a small crowd in front of the Time Again bar. The band launched into its classic hits, taking cover requests from the crowd and presenting a loose yet confident aura from each of the members’ time as students at Columbia University.
The second of the weekend’s shows, a Sunday matinee, was packed with fan favorites from the band’s earliest albums, jam sessions and a healthy dose of the excellent “Only God Was Above Us” — the band’s first album since 2019. The first quarter of the show paid homage to the band’s long-spanning history, when a parade of new songs were bookended by 2008’s “Bryn” and 2013’s “Unbelievers.” The mix of old and new songs alike exhilarated the crowd.
Ezra Koenig kicked off the show with a rendition of “Hold You Now” and bassist Chris Baio and drummer Chris Tomson joined him on stage. A few songs later, the Vampire Weekend logo dropped to the ground and the band performed their latest releases. Koenig, an Ivy League songwriter focused on smuggling academic and pop culture references into existential lyrics, hasn’t always been the obvious idea of an entertainer. But on Sunday, he acted as a New York history tour guide, guiding the audience through shocking medleys and new arrangements of the band’s classics.
The seven player lineup of Vampire Weekend seemed most at ease when performing the band’s most iconic numbers. The subtle hook of 2008 hit “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” united the crowd through well-loved lyrics as thousands sang, “Is your bed made, is your sweater on?” along with Koenig. Pleasant surprises in the setlist like the reggae-inspired “Diplomat’s Son” and the moving balladry of “Hannah Hunt” revealed that the band could truly play anything from their storied catalog.
Some of the band’s newest songs maintained their energy through entertaining stunts, the energy of which matched the tone of the music and provided a smoother delivery. This included stagehands dancing during a saxophone solo in “Classical” or the sign for old Penn Station tie store, Tiecoon, being brought on stage before Koenig mentioned the store in the lyrics of “Pravda.”
Late set surprises included “Cocaine Cowboys,” a medley of Grateful Dead and Phish covers, as well as transitions with pyrotechnics erupting in the background and an on-stage game of cornhole which resulted in a fan winning $700. This free-floating chaos extended to the encore, where the band took cover requests from the audience. A video was displayed of The Killers’ Brandon Flowers requesting “Mr. Brightside,” while the crowd clamored for “Blitzkrieg Bop” and “The Boys Are Back in Town,” all of which signaled Vampire Weekend’s jam-band-like flexibility and musicianship.
Along with the playful elements that comprised the show, there were moments of unmatched beauty. The joyful “Horchata” was turned melancholic through its violin-focused arrangement and Koenig’s measured remembrance of that “feeling you thought you’d forgotten.” Late in the set came “Mary Boone,” which Koenig began singing while standing in the audience. In tandem with the song’s bittersweet rolling piano and hip-hop drums, the audience unleashed flashlights and lighters, painting the arena with spots of white light.
Few shows can effectively combine the community-driven atmosphere of a cookout and a synagogue service, but Vampire Weekend always succeeds at weaving disparate points into something gorgeous. Only at a Vampire Weekend show would confetti explode across the audience while the band plays a song about unwieldy spiritual questions with backing vocals from everyone’s favorite cartoon chipmunks to end the night.
Contact Ethan Beck at [email protected].