Earlier this month Vampire Weekend returned to their hometown of New York City to play Madison Square Garden — one of their biggest NYC gigs since 2019. I wasn’t there. But don’t worry, I know exactly what happened.
The two-night run, which included a matinee show, was in honor of their latest album, Only God Was Above Us, another step forward for a band that could stay in place and rest on their laurels — or at least on their two-decade catalog of hits. Instead, they released the swaggering tracks “Capricorn,” the echoing “Mary Boone,” and the jittery “Ice Cream Piano” as part of their newest offering.
If you, like me, were first introduced to Vampire Weekend on SNL as they played “A-Punk” back in 2008, then made (see: illegally downloaded) a CD of their songs you could listen to while driving around your college campus in your blue Chevy metro, you were likely thrilled to hear the latest album. Less band jammy then it’s predecessor Father of The Bride, and an evolution from Modern Vampires, OGWAU was (and is) a bop.
So, when I saw the videos and read the stories from MSG, the band starting their set with “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa,” Brandon Flowers appearing on the screen to request a cover of “Mr. Brightside,” and a setlist that included a long-form version of frontman Ezra Koenig’s “New Dorp. New York,” a track that I used to listen to on repeat while fantasizing about one day making the peak of the Empire my hoe — the FOMO was real. Luckily, I had a plan. But it didn’t go as planned.
Since I was in the South during Vampire Weekend's NYC festivities, I thought I’d see them in Asheville, but Hurricane Helene’s devastation made that impossible. The band canceled the show (with proceeds from their remaining North Carolina show going to Beloved Asheville, a non-profit to help hurricane victims).
So, plan-less and still eager to scratch my FOMO itch, I rerouted to Atlanta.
An important factor of my lore is the 2014 Vampire Weekend show at Atlanta’s Fox Theater. It’s the one where me and my friends stayed after the gig and lined up outside of the venue to meet the band. We were sweaty and the photos show the eagerness in our eyes. They were kind and asked us questions about ourselves. I hadn’t been paid to write one word about music at the time, but my Tumblr account that night at 3 AM became its own publisher as I wrote about dancing to “Diane Young” and how much I loved “Hannah Hunt,” tediously describing how important hearing each note live was to me.
So, a decade later, it felt kismet that me and a good friend (who was also there on that impactful night) would be back to see Vampire Weekend in Atlanta, this time at Chastain Park. The crowd was so much older than I expected, but I guess that’s because we’re much older now too.
As they took part in the current tour's ceremony of taking requests from the crowd (someone requested The Strokes' "Last Nite" — it surprisingly wasn’t me, but I was happy they did) I couldn’t help but feel all the moments dotting the last 10 years that had led to this. It reminded me of all the Vampire Weekend shows I’d witnessed (like their brunch at Webster Hall for Father of The Bride and Paris Hilton coming on stage to play corn hole with them at Coachella), but mostly, how much we’ve all changed, but good music has — thankfully — stayed the same.
Photography: Matt Ramirez
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