Before Vampire Weekend played their breakthrough single “A-Punk” at their second of two consecutive Madison Square Garden shows, they shouted out Pete’s Candy Store, the small Brooklyn bar where the band first performed the song about 17 years ago. Playing even one MSG show probably wasn’t even on the band’s minds in those days, but we’ve spent the last decade and a half watching Vampire Weekend evolve from a super-hyped buzz band into arena rock stars, and the transformation is well past complete.
As Ezra Koenig said on stage, the Manhattan-born band—who now live in Beverly Hills [crowd boos]—were back in their birthplace to play the world’s most famous arena with five albums under their belts, and it’s hard to think of many (or any) other blog-rock-era bands with a catalog as bulletproof as Vampire Weekend’s. Their two-and-a-half-hour, career-spanning set—which is pretty lengthy for a 21st century rock band—flew by and never lulled once. They also changed the setlists up enough between the two MSG shows that it’d be a unique experience for anyone who went to both shows, and a lot of people cheered when Ezra asked the crowd on Sunday if anyone did. The classics felt fresh, and the new songs off this year’s Only God Was Above Us already felt classic. They have an unabashedly “classic rock” approach to them that still feels cool and intimate, and they had no trouble holding a packed arena’s attention for their entire lengthy set with nothing but the power of live music. Outside of a little pyro, their stage setup and light show were about as basic as it gets.
What Ezra, Chris Baio, and Chris Tomson did have was an expanded seven-piece touring lineup that allowed them to incorporate piano, multiple keyboards, violin, saxophone, pedal steel, slide guitar, acoustic guitar, two drummers, and other bells and whistles that really enabled Vampire Weekend to bring these songs to life the way they deserve to be. Their live show definitely isn’t beating the jam band or ska allegations (not that they’d want it to) and it’s also filled with African and Latin rhythms, country music, chamber pop, and all the other things that have always made Vampire Weekend the band that they are. They’re proudly out of step with trends, and we’re lucky to have a still-rising modern band who pull this stuff off like they do.
The Sunday show, which I caught, was an afternoon matinee and it had a few treats in store. They made the tour debut of “Everlasting Arms” off 2013’s Modern Vampires of the City. They brought out the actual sign from the now-closed Penn Station tie shop Tiecoon, which Vampire Weekend reference in the lyrics of “Pravda” from the new album. They did their “Cocaine Cowboys” medley, which comprises their own “Married in a Gold Rush,” Gatlin Brothers Band’s “All the Gold in California,” the Flying Burrito Brothers’ “Sin City,” the Grateful Dead’s “Cumberland Blues,” and Phish’s “Possum” with the lyric changed to “Gold Rush,” and which includes an audience member coming up on stage to play a cornhole-style game called “Gold Rush” for a cash prize. He might have been hamming it up, but Ezra made it seem like he was feeling extra generous, and awarded the fan $700. Like they did at the night show at MSG the night before, they brought out their producer Ariel Rechtshaid to contribute fuzzed-out guitar to “Capricorn.” Ariel whipped out the “Sweet Child O’ Mine” riff after plugging in, prompting Ezra to sing a line of the song in his own sugar-sweet falsetto, and Ezra applauded Ariel for wearing a Mets hat even though he’s a Dodgers fan from LA. “I just hope they play each other,” Ariel replied.
Saturday night’s show had some surprises of its own, including a rendition of the SBTRKT/Ezra Koenig song “New Dorp. New York.,” and a cover of Billy Joel’s “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant,” complete with a couple pretend-dining on stage (one of whom was Despot, whose Canal St bar Time Again Vampire Weekend played a surprise set outside of before the MSG shows). And that wasn’t the only time that Vampire Weekend tipped their hats to the fact that they were playing in the venue where the Long Island legend held a ten-year-long residency until this past summer; they also had Billy Joel tribute band Turnstiles opening both shows.
Like Vampire Weekend have been doing this whole tour, they began their encore by taking requests from the crowd for impromptu, partial cover songs. On Saturday night, they did another Billy Joel song (“My Life”), plus The Zombies’ “This Will Be Our Year,” Steely Dan’s “Dirty Work,” Fall Out Boy’s “Sugar, We’re Goin Down,” Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” The Clash’s “London Calling,” Culture Club’s “Karma Chameleon,” Bob Dylan’s “Jokerman,” Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida,” and Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m Goin’ Down.” On Sunday afternoon, they took a remote request from The Killers’ Brandon Flowers, requesting his own “Mr. Brightside,” which Ezra called the “biggest rock song of the 21st century” and which the crowd responded to with a huge singalong. They also did locationally appropriate songs like Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York,” the Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop,” Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House,” and the Seinfeld theme, as well as “Monster Mash,” Sublime’s “Santeria” (which Ezra called a “great song”), Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights,” and another appropriate one to close the covers portion out, Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys Are Back In Town.” Ezra also had a request of his own–since they sold tickets to all the seats in the arena, including the ones behind the stage, he asked for the house lights to come on and asked the crowd to do the wave. When they did, other members of Vampire Weekend played “Wipe Out” in the background.
In between Turnstiles and Vampire Weekend, both shows had DJ sets: Saturday had Mark Ronson and Sunday had The Brothers Macklovitch (aka A-Trak and Chromeo’s Dave 1). Pictures of Saturday by Amanda Hatfield continue below, along with pictures of the band’s Zabars- and MSG-themed merch (by Toby Tenenbaum) and the setlists and some videos from both shows…
i got vampire weekend to play sugar we’re goin down by american rock band fall out boy at madison square garden on october 5 2024 pic.twitter.com/uUK7kFggp9
— izzy ♡ aka 2008fobstan *✧･ﾟ:* (@2008fobstan) October 6, 2024
Vampire Weekend @ Madison Square Garden – 10/5/24 Setlist (via)
Mansard Roof
Holiday
One (Blake’s Got a New Face)
Ice Cream Piano
Classical
Connect
White Sky
Step
This Life
Sympathy
New Dorp. New York (SBTRKT cover)
The Surfer
Bambina (Grunge version)
Giving Up the Gun
Oxford Comma
Capricorn (with Ariel Rechtshaid)
Gen-X Cops
Diane Young
A-Punk
Scenes From an Italian Restaurant (Billy Joel cover)
Mary Boone
Harmony Hall
Hope
Encore:
This Will Be Our Year (The Zombies cover) (first verse only)
Dirty Work (Steely Dan cover) (Partial)
Sugar, We’re Goin Down (Fall Out Boy cover) (chorus only)
Don’t Stop Believin’ (Journey cover) (first verse and chorus)
Jolene (Dolly Parton cover) (first verse and chorus)
London Calling (The Clash cover) (first verse and chorus)
Karma Chameleon (Culture Club cover) (first verse and chorus)
Jokerman (Bob Dylan cover) (first verse and chorus)
My Life (Billy Joel cover) (first verse and chorus)
Viva la Vida (Coldplay cover) (first verse and chorus)
I’m Goin’ Down (Bruce Springsteen cover) (first verse and chorus)
Walcott
SNL Closing Theme (A Waltz in A) / Flower Moon
Vampire Weekend @ Madison Square Garden – 10/6/24 Setlist (via)
Hold You Now
Campus
Bryn
Ice Cream Piano
Classical
Connect
Unbelievers
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
This Life
Everlasting Arms (Tour debut)
Sunflower
M79
Pravda (Ezra had the original Tiecoon sign brought onstage)
Run
Diplomat’s Son
Capricorn (with Ariel Rechtshaid)
Cousins
A-Punk
Married in a Gold Rush / All the Gold in California / Sin City / Cumberland Blues / Possum (Ezra named this the Cocaine Cowboy medley)
Prep-School Gangsters
Horchata
Mary Boone
Hannah Hunt
Harmony Hall
Encore:
Seinfeld Theme (Jonathan Wolff cover)
Monster Mash (Bobby “Boris” Pickett cover)
Santeria (Sublime cover)
Theme From New York, New York (Frank Sinatra cover)
Mr. Brightside (The Killers cover) (Special request from Brandon Flowers)
Blitzkrieg Bop (Ramones cover)
Burning Down the House (Talking Heads cover)
Wipe Out (The Surfaris cover) (Played while the audience did “The Wave” around the entire arena at Ezra’s request)
Wuthering Heights (Kate Bush cover)
The Boys Are Back in Town (Thin Lizzy cover)
Worship You
Ya Hey