Vampire Weekend in a playful mood during greatest-hits driven Chicago show
“Fun and amusements” were promised for Vampire Weekend’s special two-night stand at the Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island — and the celebrated indie rockers did not hold back tat Friday night's opener. Along with an artillery of instrumentation, they brought along a mini-carnival complete with a Ferris Wheel, game show antics, a total request encore and an opening set from actress Maya Rudolph’s Prince cover band.
“We’re back after five years and finally have five albums,” Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig triumphantly shared with the packed crowd, referencing the group’s latest critically acclaimed effort, “Only God Was Above Us.” It’s their first album since 2019, and like all of the band’s previous releases, there’s a real sense of time and dedication given to the creative process as evidenced by the collection of songs.
Although the New York-bred troupe has been around nearly 20 years, they’ve only released a handful of records, but the musical savants have always been of the mindset: What’s the rush? Good art takes time, and it pays off in everything they produce.
That ethos came across in the sweeping two-hours-and-twenty-minutes set that frolicked through their catalog with a total commitment to the sonic quality that would otherwise only be possible in a studio setting.
Kicking off with the ska-esque “Holiday” (from 2010’s “Contra”) and running through new tracks like their latest somber single “Capricorn,” Vampire Weekend put their musicianship on a deserving pedestal.
From song to song, they pulled out every instrument possible— saxophone, violin, harmonica — like a magician digging through his bag of tricks to make the impossible real.
“Let’s give it up for CT’s right foot,” Koenig exclaimed, honoring talented drummer Chris Tomson. “Play those scales, Will,” the singer added, egging on frequent touring musician Will Canzoneri, who impossibly switched from classical octaves to boogie freestyle without pause. In addition to founding members Koenig, Tomson and bassist Chris Baio, the band’s wall of sound is only possible with extra touring personnel such as Canzoneri, percussionist Garrett Ray and newest add-ons, Ray Suen on violin, guitar and pedal steel, and Colin Killalea on saxophone.
Vampire Weekend have always been of the “more is more” kitchen-sink approach to their craft, weaving notes of ‘80s and baroque pop, world beats, Afro percussion, indie rock, even Americana into their tapestry of music, and it truly comes alive in a concert setting.. Big singalong number “One (Blake’s Got a New Face)” was just short of inspiring a conga line, while “Sunflower” was a near hoedown.
It all hit a fever pitch on a new saloon-style medley the band has been working on, which they have dubbed “Cocaine Cowboys,” a mashup some of their favorite songs inicluding “All the Gold In California” (Gatlin Brothers Band), “Sin City” (Flying Burrito Brothers) and “Cumberland Blues” (Grateful Dead) along with their own big hit “Married in a Gold Rush.” Afterward, the band continued their “fun and games” shtick by calling up a member of the audience — "Michael from Brookfield" — to play a game called “Gold Rush” (basically a glorified cornhole toss). He missed all three shots but the band gave him $300 anyway.
After ending the main set with the beautiful folk number, “Hope,” with each member exiting the stage individually in a solemn reminder of the sum of their parts, the band brought back the lighthearted fun in the encore.
“On the last tour, we took all Vampire Weekend requests at the end, but to mix it up we’re going to do anything but,” Koenig shared, baiting the audience into giving covers requests. Fans came prepared with hand-drawn posters (props to the guy who had a Slayer sign), though the band ultimately settled on a mix of partial takes on Rick Astley, The Rolling Stones, Thin Lizzy and The Killers, among a few others.
Opening the show were handpicked acts Ra Ra Riot and PRINCEss, the latter being Maya Rudolph and Gretchen Lieberum’s Prince cover band, fitting since Rudolph and Vampire Weekend were paired up just two months ago on an episode of “Saturday Night Live.” There were no Kamala Harris impressions on this night from Rudolph, in reference to the politico she's famously spoofed on "SNL," in part perhaps due to the events of the past week. Instead, the actress, her music partner Gretchen Lieberum and a five-piece band took on the spirit of Prince as they delivered serious takes on “Let’s Go Crazy,” “Little Red Corvette” and “1999,” with Rudolph perfecting both the wails and the moves of the icon. Of course, her comedic spirit shone through on some other random picks like TikTok hit “One Margarita” and a TV show theme song medley of the tunes from “Family Ties,” “The Golden Girls” and “Cheers.”
“We’ve been doing this 12 years, and at the last Chicago show, you were the freakiest and nastiest,” Rudolph cajoled. “We’ve got a lot of work to do here tonight.”
It all happens again Saturday night, for one undoubtedly epic finale.
Vampire Weekend Set List
Holiday
Cousins
One (Blake’s Got A New Face)
Ice Cream Piano
Classical
Connect
White Sky
Unbelievers
This Life
Sunflower
Sympathy
The Surfer
Bambina
Campus
Capricorn
Gen-X Cops
Diane Young
A-Punk
Married in a Gold Rush / All the Gold in California / Sin City / Cumberland Blues
Prep-School Gangsters
Mary Boone
Harmony Hall
Hope
Encore
Never Gonna Give You Up (Rick Astley cover)
Beast of Burden (The Rolling Stones cover)
Twist & Shout (The Top Notes cover)
A Message To You Rudy (The Specials cover)
Peg (Steely Dan cover)
The Boys Are Back In Town (Thin Lizzy cover)
Mr. Brightside (The Killers cover)
Walcott
PRINCEss Set List
Let’s Go Crazy (Prince cover)
D.M.S.R. (Prince cover)
When You Were Mine (Prince cover)
Cool (Prince cover)
Thank You For Being A Friend/Where Everybody Knows Your Name /Without Us
One Margarita (That Chick Angel/Steve Terrell/Casa Di cover)
1999 (Prince cover)