The crowd bounced and screamed with excitement upon Koenig repeating the lucky audience member’s request of Walcott. Digging deep into their discography brought about a jubilant and almost surreal closer. The vocalist also offered recommendations to the crowd as an encore, including the soft, yet raw “2021” from their newest project and the driving, energetic “Walcott” from their first album.
But before leaving the stage, Koenig promised the crowd that there would not be another six-year wait until the band’s next appearance. Besides their live rendition of “Big Blue,” the one blue thing about Vampire Weekend’s performance was perhaps the ending. A classic Dylan ballad, slow and comforting, Jokerman served not only as a time to appreciate the musicianship of Vampire Weekend’s new members through piano and guitar solos but also as a reminder of the group’s quirky nature and their grammar obsession. Despite the association to an estranged font, however, the group’s cover was a change in pace worth slowing down for. Recently on social media, the Vampire Weekend vocalist has appeared to be obsessed with everything involving the not-so-elegant font, highlighting it on his instagram page and even interviewing the font’s creator in “Time Crisis”. Listening to Vampire Weekend live provides an experience one simply cannot achieve through listening to a digital track alone.Īs a part of the set, Koenig introduced something borrowed, namely a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Jokerman” as an ode to his favorite font.
Nearly every song performed by the group included some spin that differentiated itself from the version on its respective album and showcased the depth of the group’s talent and performance. The group seamlessly mixed their soft rock tunes with metal-inspired instrumentals that created a rock show at its finest. Opening with an extended version of their cushy and playful “Sunflower” that incorporated heavy, distorted driven guitar solos, it became clear that Vampire Weekend is not just any other alternative band. Instead, Vampire Weekend transformed each of their tracks, performing pieces entirely different from their recorded counterparts. None of their tracks were too old to be heard again - this was not an instance of that one artist who just can’t seem to let go of that one song from their setlist. The group indeed played something old and something new, taking themselves back to their eponymous debut album of 2008 with tracks like “A-Punk” and “Oxford Comma” to their newest tracks off of “Father of the Bride” like “This Life” and “How Long?”. It is, instead, a powerhouse of rock and performance at its best. Nonetheless, the group today is much more than their three and a half minute indie anthems of 2008. Despite the whirlwind of changes that took place in the six year period between the band’s third album “Modern Vampires of the City” and their latest project “Father of the Bride,” Vampire Weekend did not cease to put on a show perfectly combining nostalgia and freshness.
#Vampire weekend new album producer series
Koenig also took time himself to work on side projects, including the Apple Music talk show “Time Crisis”, the American-Japanese animated series featuring Jaden Smith “Neo Yokio”, and even a child with long-term girlfriend and “Parks and Rec” star Rashida Jones.
During this hiatus, Vampire Weekend evolved greatly, introducing new band members following the departure of Rostam Batmanglij who now has a career as a solo artist and producer. Frontman Ezra Koenig recounted to the audience that it had been six whole years since the group’s last appearance in San Francisco.