Before they begin their tour supporting their anticipated new album Only God Was Above Us, Vampire Weekend will play a special release show during the total eclipse, happening on April 8 at Moody Amphitheater in Austin. (The album’s out April 5.) If you can’t make it to Texas for the occasion, they’ve announced it’ll also stream live at 1 PM ET. You can claim a free ticket now.
The band discussed the new album in a new feature on New York Times, where Ezra Koenig says its sequence of songs is “a journey from questioning to acceptance, maybe to surrender. From a kind of negative worldview to something a little deeper.” He continues, “It’s not a doom and gloom record. And even if there’s songs where the narrator is trying to figure something out or feels confused, that’s not all. That’s part of the story — it’s not the thesis of the album that the world is dark and horrible.”
Koenig, bassist Chris Baio, and drummer Chris Tomson also told New York Times about how they’d begun meeting for Covid-distanced jam sessions in the summer of 2020, which resulted in the recording of “hundreds of hours of music.” They told the Times that they credit that material not to Vampire Weekend, but to a “new trio that happens to have the same members” as them. “We kind of have an imaginary back story for that band,” Koenig told the Times. “It was a band that came out around 1989, 1990, and they were a little bit too punky for the jam scene and a little bit too jammy for the punk scene. And there’s a little bit of the Minutemen in there. The truth is, this is very premature because that band is still hashing out its sound. I don’t want to say too much.” Stay tuned.
Vampire Weekend’s tour stops in NYC for shows at Madison Square Garden on October 5 and October 6 with Mark Ronson on day one, The Brothers Macklovitch on day two, and Billy Joel tribute band Turnstiles on both shows. See all upcoming dates below.
VAMPIRE WEEKEND: 2024 TOUR DATES
Mon Apr 08 – Austin, TX – Moody Amphitheater (Solar Eclipse)
Sat April 27 – New Orleans, LA – New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival*
Fri May 10 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Block Party*
Thu May 30 – Barcelona, Espana – Primavera Sound*
Thu Jun 06 – Houston, TX – 713 Music Hall
Fri Jun 07 – Irving, TX – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
Sun Jun 09 – Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Financial Theatre
Mon Jun 10 – San Diego, CA – Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre
Wed Jun 12 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl
Sat Jun 15 – Berkeley, CA – The Greek Theatre at U.C. Berkeley
Sun Jun 16 – Berkeley, CA – The Greek Theatre at U.C. Berkeley (Matinee Show)
Tue Jun 18 – Burnaby, BC – Deer Lake Park
Wed Jun 19 – Bend, OR – Hayden Homes Amphitheater
Thu Jun 20 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena
Sat Jun 22 – Bonner, MT – KettleHouse Amphitheater
Sun Jun 23 – Bonner, MT – KettleHouse Amphitheater (Matinee Show)
Fri Jul 19 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Sat Jul 20 – Dillon, CO – Dillon Amphitheater
Mon Jul 22 – Kansas City, MO – Starlight Theatre
Tue Jul 23 – Lincoln, NE – Pinewood Bowl Theater
Thu Jul 25 – Maryland Heights, MO – Saint Louis Music Park
Fri Jul 26 – Chicago, IL – Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
Sat Jul 27 – Chicago, IL – Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
Tue Jul 30 – Minneapolis, MN – The Armory
Wed Jul 31 – Minneapolis, MN – The Armory
Thu Aug 01 – Milwaukee, WI – BMO Pavilion
Sat Aug 03 – St. Charles, IA – Hinterland*
Thu Sep 19 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH – Blossom Music Center
Fri Sep 20 – Cincinnati, OH – The ICON Festival Stage at Smale Park
Sat Sep 21 – Indianapolis, IN – Everwise Amphitheater at White River State Park
Mon Sep 23 – Rochester Hills, MI – Meadow Brook Amphitheatre
Tue Sep 24 – Toronto, ON – Budweiser Stage
Wed Sep 25 – Laval, QC – Place Bell
Fri Sep 27 – Boston, MA – TD Garden
Sat Sep 28 – Philadelphia, PA – TD Pavilion at The Mann
Mon Sep 30 – Washington, DC – The Anthem
Tue Oct 01 – Washington, DC – The Anthem
Wed Oct 02 – Charlottesville, VA – Ting Pavilion
Sat Oct 05 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
Sun Oct 06 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden (Matinee Show)
Tue Oct 08 – Wilmington, NC – Live Oak Bank Pavilion
Wed Oct 09 – Raleigh, NC – Red Hat Amphitheater
Fri Oct 11 – Nashville, TN – Ascend Amphitheater
Sat Oct 12 – Atlanta, GA – Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park
Sun Oct 13 – Asheville, NC – Rabbit Rabbit
Tue Oct 15 – St. Augustine, FL – St. Augustine Amphitheatre
Thu Oct 17 – Austin, TX – Moody Center
*Festival date