Vampire Weekend Confirm New Album’s Completion, Share New Music at Lollapalooza Aftershow
Photos by Kevin Winter/Getty Music News Vampire Weekend
After teasing updates about the near-completion of their new album, Vampire Weekend announced Saturday night at Lollapalooza (as reported by Brooklyn Vegan) that their fourth album is done and in the process of being mastered. The New York band released their self-titled debut ten years ago and their forthcoming record follows 2013’s Modern Vampires of the City.
Having played their first show in four years only just in June, during which they teased new music, Vampire Weekend’s Lollapalooza slot would have been a massive opportunity to share some of album four, but they decided to save that for a more intimate crowd (more on that in a moment). Instead, the bad led their headlining set with their signature “A-Punk” off Vampire Weekend—then they played it two more times. In a row. Headlining at the same time as Vampire Weekend was another weekend—The Weeknd, to be exact. The band joked it was “spooky” to have three weekends going on at once, and so “A-Punk” acted as the siren call to Vampire Weekend fans (or at least familiars), beckoning them to their set, which would also include snippets of “Saturday in the Park” by Chicago (relevant) and Dusty Springfield’s “Son of a Preacher Man.”
Vampire Weekend continued to show their love for Seinfeld, playing a snippet of the sitcom’s theme song during “New Dorp, New York.” Seinfeld Sunday was also in full effect the other week when they announced their Lollapalooza aftershow, which occurred last night. It was at this Sunday night show that the band shared some of album four with their fans—it was a no-phone show, though, so unless you were lucky enough to be there, you probably won’t hear the 4.5 songs shared until they’re officially released. According to Stereogum, the songs were played via Ezra Koenig’s aux cord as he watched the crowd’s reaction. One fan in attendance said the music was “spacey and empty-sounding” but still “very bright and sunny.” Along with the band’s classics, some deep cuts and a few covers, they also performed one new song live. As shared by a fan account, Vampire Weekend’s tour merch, which features the words, “We took our vows in summertime / Now we find ourselves in late December,” are new song lyrics. The band also handed out $2 bills after the show, for some reason.
After the show, Ezra, Baio, and CT handed out $2 bills to people in the crowd.
(: memcnern/IG, dankpizzabagels/IG & brenbiesen/IG) pic.twitter.com/H5uTgsGzJ3— Team Vampire Weekend (@teamvampyweeks) August 6, 2018
Watch lead vocalist Ezra Koenig’s album announcement and listen to a performance by Vampire Weekend from the Paste archives below, and find the band’s full Lollapalooza headlining setlist further down.
Here’s a clip of @arzE announcing that LP4 is done (tonight at Lollapalooza) pic.twitter.com/dl3GjupjJD
— Team Vampire Weekend (@teamvampyweeks) August 5, 2018
Vampire Weekend 2018 Lollapalooza Setlist:
01. A-Punk
02. A-Punk
03. A-Punk
04. Unbelievers
05. Holiday
06. Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (with some of Saturday in the Park)
07. Diane Young
08. Step
09. Horchata
10. New Dorp, New York (with some of Seinfeld)
11. Cousins
12. White Sky
13. Oxford Comma
14. Worship You
15. Ya Hey
Encore:
16. Obvious Bicycle (with some of Son of a Preacher Man)
17. Hannah Hunt
18. Walcott