Vampire Weekend performs at Huntington Bank Pavilion in Chicago on July 26, 2024.
By Nina Tadic
Vampire Weekend is a band. But their concert is more than a concert – it is a hands-on, interactive experience. It is a cookout, beach party, and a festival all rolled into one.
On night one of a two night stint at Huntington Bank Pavilion, halfway through their “Only God Was Above Us” Tour, the band brings more than just energy – they bring a party.
Far before Vampire Weekend’s set begins, Huntington Bank Pavilion, sitting right along the shore of Lake Michigan on Northerly Island, is packed with a steady crowd of concertgoers of all ages. Littles on their parents’ shoulders, twenty-something gals in “brat summer” chic mini dresses and big sunglasses, older couples with blankets and drinks in-hand for the lawn – all trickling in, all ready for a fantastic night.
Ra Ra Riot performs at Huntington Bank Pavilion in Chicago on July 26, 2024.
Ra Ra Riot kicks off the night with a short and sweet set, rocking to a mix of fan-favorites. Tracks “Beta Love”, “Bad Times”, “Orange Shirt”, and “Water” made the cut, as well as two more recent releases, 2019’s “Flowers”, and their newest release “The Water”.
Following Ra Ra Riot’s set, another group takes the stage to sweep the crowd off their feet – and boy, do they ever. PRINCEss – a Prince cover band fronted by Maya Rudolph and Gretchen Lieberum knows how to hold the crowd in the palms of their hands. Playing off of the crowd and each other, these ladies and their backing band have enough energy for everyone in the amphitheater. Spinning and dancing and singing in unison, by the time they’re through their first song (Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy”) the crowd is going wild.
PRINCEss performs at Huntington Bank Pavilion in Chicago on July 26, 2024.
By the time Vampire Weekend hits the stage, the sun has set, and the glow of the ferris wheel on the lawn makes the venue feel more like a summer boardwalk than an amphitheater. Games of cornhole are going strong in front of Vampire Weekend’s calling card – a giant, light up, inflatable frog, and plenty of people are enjoying slices of Connie’s Pizza and a mix of cocktails and cans of water. A perfect summer’s evening.
And then their 2.5 hour set begins. And it is nothing short of phenomenal.
Vampire Weekend performs at Huntington Bank Pavilion in Chicago on July 26, 2024.
With a stage setup that mimics a New York subway tunnel, and everything from interpretive dancers in neon construction vests, to violinists (Ray Suen) and saxophonists (Colin Killalea), the band has brought it all out onstage for this tour. Playing a different setlist every night, it is a mystery what fans can expect to hear… Chicago’s night one had a fantastic mix of pieces from each of the band’s releases, a few sing-along moments, medleys of other artists, a live gameshow portion of the set, and even a “cover requests” section.
In the same way Taylor Swift will go down in history for her Eras Tour, it’s safe to say that for alternative music fans, Vampire Weekend will go down in history for the Only God Was Above Us Tour, because it covers more ground in the entertainment-sphere in a little over two hours than some artists do over multiple days, weeks, or years of touring.
Opening with a few pieces of Contra, “Holiday” and “Cousins” got the crowd warmed up, before a classic crowd-interaction track: “One (Blake’s Got A New Face)” that involves vocalist Ezra Koenig and the crowd singing “Blake’s got a new face!” back and forth to one another over the groovy, dancey instrumentals. Following these three, fans got to hear a good section of Only God Was Above Us with the tracks “Ice Cream Piano”, “Classical”, and “Connect.” With the album’s cover featuring the inside of a train car; the band’s stage setup featuring a giant subway tunnel, it makes sense that during “Classical,” the band introduces the crowd to a stunning solo dance performance done by a person in a black wife-beater, fitted jeans, boots, and a neon construction vest hanging off their waist.
Vampire Weekend performs at Huntington Bank Pavilion in Chicago on July 26, 2024.
A good amount of Only God Was Above Us makes its way into the setlist – and the crowd eats up every song. Of course fans go wild when they hear the album’s first single, “Capricorn,” (note: the fans that are, you guessed it, Capricorns, tend to be more than a little bit loud when Koenig dedicates the song to them, even if there “aren’t usually many Capricorns” at the band’s performances).
During Father of the Bride’s “Sunflower,” the band highlights violinist Ray Suen’s performance, and it is phenomenal. With vibrato that competes with that of a classical performance, Suen is, in that moment, the star of the show, and the crowd goes wild for it.
Another peak of the night is when the band performs their self-proclaimed “Cocaine Cowboys” mashup – a mix of their own “Married in a Gold Rush” alongside “All The Gold in California” by Brother Marshall and the Choir of Fire, “Sin City” by AC/DC, “Cumberland Blues” by Grateful Dead, and “Possum” by Phish. During this wild ride of a medley, they also take a moment to invite a fan onstage for a little “game show” style interlude. “This is our proprietary game, Gold Rush! No, it’s not cornhole. It’s Gold Rush.” The fan brought onstage was given three chances to get a beanbag through a hole in a cornhole gold rush board to get a prize. And generously enough, after missing all three chances, the band (at the crowd’s incessant cheering) settled on giving their lucky contestant not $100, not $200, but a whopping $300 prize for being brave enough to get up and play in front of the entire audience.
Vampire Weekend performs at Huntington Bank Pavilion in Chicago on July 26, 2024.
By this point in the night, the wild dancing happening in the crowd is worth noting, and is definitely worth a laugh or two. Kids, tweens, and teens of all ages have been showing their moves for the band’s entire performance, and by the tail end of the band’s set, quite a few seemingly inebriated adults are showing their stuff, as well. The amount of twenty and thirty-somethings square dancing, playing limbo, and dancing the Macarena to tracks like “Prep School Gangsters” and “Harmony Hall” is astounding, and downright awesome.
Something else that is completely astounding? Vampire Weekend’s ability to play nearly any song with no prior rehearsal. On previous tours, the band has opted to do a “Vampire Weekend song requests” portion of the set, where fans can request any Vampire Weekend track for them to perform – but for this tour, they’ve opted to do “Any song that’s NOT Vampire Weekend song requests,” and the way they pull these songs out of thin air is phenomenal. Chicago is lucky enough to hear quite the variety, ranging from songs by Rick Astley (“Never Gonna Give You Up”) to The Rolling Stones (“Beast of Burden”) all the way to The Killers (“Mr. Brightside”). The perfect way to end the night, the band has managed to make their concert into the ultimate summer adventure for fans of all ages, and it is without a doubt an event that will be remembered by everyone in attendance forever.
Check out photos of all the fun below and click here for more information about Vampire Weekend.
(Photos and review by Nina Tadic – follow Nina on Instagram at @ninadoesphotos)
