Vampire WEekend - MSG
September 6, 2019
There was an electricity in the building before the show, unlike the Philadelphia show I attended just a couple days before. Angélique Kidjo opened with immense amounts of energy, running around the stage and through the crowd. Vampire Weekend came out to a standing ovation from the sold out crowd which did not sit again for 3 hours.
Lead singer Ezra Koenig donned a J.R. Smith Knicks jersey under his button down and bassist Chris Baio wiggled his hips in a Springsteenian cut-off t-shirt with a Rangers logo with a VW twist. With them and drummer Chris Tomson were newcomers to the band, Brian Robert Jones, Greta Morgan, Garrett Ray, and Will Canzoneri.
What wound up being a 32-song setlist proved the members of Vampire Weekend were excited to play MSG for the first time. Makes sense since the band formed in 2006 at Columbia University, a 20-25 minute subway ride uptown.
When Ezra Koenig mentioned a special guest coming out, the crowd screamed for Danielle Haim. It was not her, but Steve Lacy who may have been more excited than anyone in the building to be there, which again was not an easy task. He ran and flipped and sang all around the stage, giving everyone including those behind the stage their money’s worth, for 2 songs, including his own “Dark Red”.
New band member Greta Morgan performed the parts sung by Danielle Haim on Father of the Bride. Morgan was warmly received by the crowd with thunderous cheers during her first verse on “Hold You Now”.
The setlist was a masterful combination of past hits, deep cuts, and FOTB, which kept the crowd dancing, shouting, and singing all night. When we arrived, there were mysterious translucent bracelets with the frog tour logo on them at our seats. Little did we know at the time that these would eventually put the concert over the top in the best way. As the first key strokes of “Hannah Hunt” were struck on piano, they lit up across the arena. Changing colors and flashing to the beats of the remaining songs, the bracelets created a powerful visual around the World’s Most Famous Arena, evoking similar emotions to seeing people’s lighters or phones sparkling during a show.
The final 2 songs of the encore, “Ya Hey” and “Walcott” put a perfect bow on the night.
SETLIST
“Bambina”
“Unbelievers”
“White Sky”
“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”
“Holiday”
“M79”
“One (Blake’s Got a New Face)”
“Sympathy”
“Unbearably White”
“Step”
“New Dorp. New York” (SBTRKT cover)
“This Life”
“Diplomat’s Son”
“Hold You Now”
“Harmony Hall”
“Diane Young”
“Cousins”
“A-Punk”
“Hannah Hunt”
“2021”
“California English”
“Dark Red” (by and with Steve Lacy)
“Sunflower” (with Steve Lacy)
“Oxford Comma”
“Jerusalem, New York, Berlin” (with Angélique Kidjo)
— Encore —
“Big Blue”
“Ottoman”
“Obvious Bicycle”
“Run”
“Worship You”
“Ya Hey”
“Walcott”