Ezra Koenig has reunited together with his highschool band at a current Vampire Weekend present. Try footage of the second beneath.
The gig from Vampire Weekend follows an enormous yr of touring, all in celebration of their newest album, ‘Solely God Was Above Us’.
Whereas in New Jersey on Monday (September 15), the band blended issues up by having a band known as Sophisticuffs open for them. The band is the group that Koenig was in throughout highschool, and likewise occurs to characteristic Ra Ra Riot frontman Wes Miles.
Taking to the stage on the Wellmont Theater, the unique line-up got here collectively to open the present, and play their first reside date in over 20 years.
The band had been energetic between 1999 and 2002, and for the present they hung a small, make-shift backdrop behind them, which barely coated the Vampire Weekend curtain. Try fan footage from the set, and a put up from Ra Ra Riot concerning the reunion beneath.
The reunion comes because the band acquired their begin in New Jersey, and for the three extra exhibits that Vampire Weekend have deliberate on the Wellmont, Koenig and Miles will proceed to open as a part of Sophisticuffs.
These headline exhibits throughout the US comply with on from an enormous summer time of competition slots for Vampire Weekend, and the band made headlines this summer time after they used their headline set at Victorious to talk out in help of The Mary Wallopers, and say it’s “flawed” for a competition to punish an artist for flying a flag.
The efficiency got here shortly after the Irish band had been midway via the opening music of their set on the Portsmouth competition when their sound was reduce by Victorious organisers and the Palestinian flag they’d on stage was taken away.
That call was met with livid responses from each the band and most of the different artists on the invoice – a number of of whom, together with The Final Dinner Celebration, The Educational, Cliffords and Esme Emerson, determined to boycott the competition consequently.
“If somebody was punished for flying a flag, that’s flawed they usually deserve an apology,” Koenig mentioned throughout their set. “The horrible struggling of the Palestinian individuals deserves all of our sympathy.”
Earlier than then, Vampire Weekend stunned followers by utilizing their set at Simply Like Heaven to interrupt out covers of Tame Impala, Phoenix, and TV On The Radio.
In a four-star assessment of their newest album, ‘Solely God Was Above Us’, NME shared: “Regardless of its sentimental homages to the historical past of their hometown, ‘Solely God Was Above Us’ isn’t a nostalgic album. Reasonably than adopting an excessively rose tinted view of the previous to deal with the current, Koenig appears to be positive with embracing that issues simply aren’t that nice.”
