Vampire Weekend prove their indie legend status at Manchester’s O2 Apollo

From the start, these Columbia University alums distinguished themselves from their contemporaries – MGMT, Passion Pit, Ra Ra Riot – with their Afropop-infused take on indie, but it’s been 16 years since they released their self-titled debut 16 years ago. 2013’s Modern Vampires of the City saw them move away from their earlier sound to incorporate more baroque pop influences, while they became a trio after Rostam Batmanglij left in 2016, and 2020’s Father of the Bride was almost an Ezra Koenig solo project – though expanded their touring line-up to seven. They might not drop a new album every couple of years, but the world of Vampire Weekend is a busy one.

Meanwhile, Koenig, bassist Chris Baio, and drummer Chris Tomson all turned 40 this year. Koenig has a six-year-old son too, with his partner, actress Rashida Jones. On one hand, this is a more mature, more considered Vampire Weekend, but there’s plenty of time for lighthearted fun throughout the night. It would be too much to consider them elder statesmen of indie just yet, but they’ve certainly found that sweet spot between the old core of fans who’ve been there from the start and younger fans who might have discovered “A-Punk” or “Oxford Comma” at an indie disco and got the ball rolling from there.

Billed as An Evening With Vampire Weekend, there’s no support act. Instead, the audience gets more time with the band as they run through their pensive 2024 album Only God Was Above Us, and dip into their back catalogue for a cornucopia of treats. It’s a mammoth two-and-a-half-hour set beginning just after 8pm.

Five albums deep, there are so many places Vampire Weekend can go, and the way they’ve mixed up their setlists throughout the tour to date reflects this. A three-song introduction of “Holiday”, “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”, and the “oldie-but-a-goodie” “I Stand Corrected” sets the scene with all members dressed in white against the namesake backdrop, and for “Ice Cream Piano,” Koenig holds the stage on his own. It looks as though he’ll be front and centre, but the backdrop is removed to reveal the entire live band which moves full throttle onto “Classical” and “Connect”. The VW Tunnel Crew, sporting high-vis jackets, work tirelessly to make little adjustments to the set as the evening goes on, and creates a real feeling of community; everyone working together to make the show a success.

The dual strike of “Unbelievers” and “Step,” both from Modern Vampires of the City, shows Vampire Weekend at their best. “Step” in particular is captivating, and Koenig’s vocals are beautiful. And while it’s a busy stage, the core three make themselves known, with Baio’s nimble, rhythmic legwork being a highlight. Towards the end of the main set, after a crowd-pleasing run of “Diane Young,” “Cousins” and “A-Punk,” the trio debut a medley called “Cocaine Cowboys” for the first time outside the US.

“Married in a Gold Rush” segues into covers of “All the Gold in California”, “Sin City”, “Cumberland Blues” and “Possum”, before Koenig discusses the band’s journey (“Our headquarters now are in the world-famous Beverly Hills, which sometimes get cheers, sometimes get boos”) and duly invites a member of the audience on stage for a game of cornhole, or Gold Rush, for the chance to win £300 – £100 per successful attempt. Because why not, right?

The lucky gig-goer doesn’t get the bean bag in the hole on all three tries, but she’s given the full prize anyway. And another attendee, at their first-ever live show, gets “Harmony Hall” dedicated to them. Country and cornhole – this section feels resolutely American in nature, but something about it just works. It might be the way in which the band make the show feel surprisingly intimate, everyone hanging onto their every word. And most bands, when it gets near the end of the show, might then offer an encore featuring two of three fan favourites, but Vampire Weekend aren’t most bands.

Koenig announces that they’re taking requests, but they can’t be Vampire Weekend songs – as he says, at this point in the show “technically, we’re just a bunch of people hanging out.” The Cardigans’ “Lovefool” is first up, followed by a mini Velvet Underground medley, “Last Nite” by The Strokes, Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”, Chappell Roan’s “HOT TO GO!” (“One for the new gen!”) and Pulp’s “Common People”. To wrap up, we're bestowed with just one of their own songs – “Walcott,” from the band’s self-titled, rounds the evening off, a final reminder of why Vampire Weekend are so loved.

It’s not the most conventional show, and for a band less adept at crowd management it could risk a sharp descent into folly, but it feels fitting for Vampire Weekend, this band of multiple identities. The breadth of their set is mindblowing; this is no indie-by-numbers. While most of the crowd-pleasers do make an appearance, there’s so much more.

Setlist

Holiday
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
I Stand Corrected
Ice Cream Piano
Classical
Connect
Unbelievers
Step
This Life
Sunflower
Sympathy
Pravda
Horchata
Campus
Oxford Comma
Capricorn
Gen-X Cops
Diane Young
Cousins
A-Punk
Married in a Gold Rush / All the Gold in California (Larry Gatlin & the Gatlin Brothers Band cover) / Sin City (Flying Burrito Brothers cover) / Cumberland Blues (Grateful Dead cover) / Possum (Phish cover)
Mary Boone
Hannah Hunt
Harmony Hall
Hope
Lovefool (The Cardigans cover)
Sweet Jane (The Velvet Underground cover)
Rock & Roll (The Velvet Underground cover)
Last Nite (The Strokes cover)
Have You Ever Seen the Rain? (Creedence Clearwater Revival cover)
Road to Nowhere (Talking Heads cover)
Girls Just Want to Have Fun (Cyndi Lauper cover)
HOT TO GO! (Chappell Roan cover)
Common People (Pulp cover)
Walcott