Live at The Armory, Vampire Weekend's long awaited Minneapolis show is undeniably sweet and full of surprises. The band sounds as mature as ever, showcasing their incredible musicianship and talent like never before.
I've been wanting to see my favorite band, Vampire Weekend, in concert for awhile. Ever since I really got into them, which was roughly 2010-11, seeing Vampire Weekend in person would be the dream, since Vampire Weekend and Contra were two of my favorite albums at the time (and still currently are I mind you). The Brooklyn-based quartet now trio have always dazzled in the studio on their records, but their energy is unmatched live, especially through the band's later records. Finally, I've seen the group and it took place last week on Sunday, June 10th, at The Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The band is currently touring off of their excellent new album, Father of the Bride, and the album's release and the return to performing live have been worth the 5-6 year wait. The band is noticeably more mature than ever before, having tighter musicianship and talent shedding off of them. The 6 year break definitely gave them the time to grow as musicians, playing off of each other, merging into surprising tangents and even stretching them into lengthy jams. With over 50 songs in the band's catalog now, they have plenty to choose from. Performing live in Minnesota for the first time in five years, they definitely delivered the goods with a massive 28 song setlist containing a well evened mix of the band's entire discography, including fan favorites, deep cuts, and rarities.
What's noticeably different about the newer live shows is that Vampire Weekend's lineup is expanded on stage with a second drummer, rhythm guitarist, and two keyboardists, totaling at seven musicians instead of the usual four or so. The added live instrumentation that debuted last year is an awesome bonus, bringing these songs more layers than they initially had. Hearing songs like "2021" and "Big Blue" live are very different than they are on record. They stretch these 1-2 minute songs into 5-6 minute epics with different shifts in tone and style, which is completely unexpected. I couldn't have even imagined that it was possible to stretch these out until that night. Stretching "Sunflower" out with more guitar solos is incredible, especially since this is a jam that's definitely supposed to be heard live. Seeing the long-awaited 8 minute "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" definitely exceeds expectations. In the middle of the track, they bring out no other than Sweet Martha herself (of Sweet Martha's Cookie Jar). Her presence was electric and encouraged the audience to attend the Minnesota State Fair (of course), with the band blasting The Beatles' "Martha My Dear" over the speakers. The band even had limited edition crossover t-shirts with the proceeds going to the Minnesota Public Library. This was exciting, especially seeing the VW/SM crossover initially heard from Ezra Koenig's Time Crisis show in person. With Koenig even handing out cookies to the crowd, it is certainly a once in a lifetime experience seeing the unlikely crossover on the same stage.
Highlights from both Vampire Weekend and Contra were heavily scattered over the setlist, from "Giving Up the Gun" to "M79." The three song run of three of my favorite songs, "Diane Young," "Cousins," and "A-Punk" was exhilarating and undeniably energetic. FOTB highlights such as "Harmony Hall" and "This Life" hit hard, while their cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Everywhere" was satisfying and could've been mistaken as one of their original songs. They even played the non-album rarity of "Jonathan Low," from the Twilight: New Moon soundtrack. During the encore, Koenig took requests by only people wearing bucket hats (which is appropriate) and chose new fan favorite "How Long?," the beautiful ballad known as "Hannah Hunt," and the Contra opening "Horchata." They faithfully played some of my all-time favorite deep cuts like "Diplomat's Son" and "Giant." Well, they played just the intro of "Giant," which was enough of a taster.
Overall, Vampire Weekend sound like a well seasoned group of musicians who care about the craft of their live performance, the dedicated fanbase, and the show's atmosphere itself. Everything about the show was very Vampire Weekend-ish: the opera music blasting before and after the show, the quirky bucket hat requests, an oddly specific local collaboration, the 12-foot tall inflatable peace frog placed outside the venue. As baffling as all of this may seem, Vampire Weekend have a very unique and quirky universe that make them stand out from any other band. Seeing them live, I can clearly see the recent jam-band comparisons from the likes of Phish and The Grateful Dead. They really stretch a lot of these songs out into incredibly diverse jams that I couldn't imagine them doing 6+ years ago. Vampire Weekend definitely felt that they needed to give it their all to a very devoted fanbase who've waited a long time to experience their performances in person. They showcased why they are such an iconic band who will be remembered not only for their music, but for their dedication as well.
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