Vampire Weekend at Madison Square Garden [Photos]

Vampire Weekend, Mark Ronson & Turnstiles at Madison Square Garden [Photos]

This weekend, Vampire Weekend occupied the great Madison Square Garden on their Only God Was Above Us tour. With DJ/producer Mark Ronson and the Billy Joel cover band Turnstiles (they play more than just ’80s Joel), the show went deep into the night, as Vampire Weekend turned on the jets and cruised through a 37-song setlist. The majority of the set was business as usual for Ezra Koenig and the boys, as they made stops at every major moment in their catalog, from “Diplomat’s Son” to “Sunflower,” to “Capricorn.” It was during the encore, however, where things became engulfed in chaos: Vampire Weekend performed 10 cover songs in a row, including the Seinfeld theme, “Mr. Brightside,” “Wuthering Heights,” “Santeria” and, most importantly, “The Boys Are Back in Town,” before concluding with a one-two punch of “Worship You” and “Ya Hey.”

Earlier this year, Vampire Weekend released Only God Was Above Us, their first album since 2019’s Father of the Bride. In her review of the album, Paste contributor Ellen Johnson wrote that “the album is as good as anything the New York City-formed rockers have ever made (which is to say, very good), and it features a little DNA from everything they’ve ever put out: a sibling to their self-titled debut, a cousin to Contra and the rebellious nephew of 2013’s Modern Vampires of the City. It even shares some similarities with their most recent offspring, Father of the Bride. But for each of that last album’s sunbeams, Only God Was Above Us has a sky of lightning bolts. It’s at times darker and weirder, but it’s not depressing. It’s like getting older: Strange and sometimes sad discoveries appear around every corner, often exposing more questions than answers, but with them comes time-earned satisfaction.”