Vampire Weekend were taking requests at their Houston show this week, leading to them attempting covers of Oasis and Phoenix – check out the footage below.
The New York band were kicking off their North American tour in the Texan city on Thursday (June 6), in support of new album ‘Only God Was Above Us’.
Returning for their encore, they took requests for Phoenix’s ‘1901’, Oasis’ ‘Wonderwall’ and Crowded House’s ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’. The performances were impromptu as they tackled songs they had never played before, and hence were left somewhat incomplete, but as you can see from the footage, both band and audience were enjoying the moment.
Super fun encore at @vampireweekend’s first tour stop in Houston last night. They took requests for any well-known song, even though they had never played it. Here’s 1901 by @wearephoenix !@timecrisis2000 pic.twitter.com/L4aBWkBIHp
— Sarah Rolen (@sarah_rolen) June 7, 2024
Anyway, here’s wonderwall @oasis @vampireweekend @timecrisis2000 pic.twitter.com/NWtaECqvDx
— Sarah Rolen (@sarah_rolen) June 7, 2024
Inspiration for the Phoenix request may have come from the fact that Ezra Koenig joined the French band on stage during their performance at Just Like Heaven Festival in Pasadena, California last month.
Phoenix welcomed Koenig and they performed the song ‘Tonight’ together, their collab from Phoenix’s latest album ‘Alpha Zulu‘. The Vampire Weekend frontman then brought out his guitar and joined in on ‘1901’, although he did not lend vocals on this occasion, and then wrapped up with a version of ‘Identical (Reprise)’.
That itself followed on from Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars joining Vampire Weekend during their special gig to mark the recent total solar eclipse. That show included their first ever public performance of ‘Tonight’.
Vampire Weekend recently performed ‘Gen-X Cops’ and ‘Capricorn’ while appearing as the musical guests on Saturday Night Live.
They are due to hit the road for their 2024 UK and Ireland tour later this year. You can buy any remaining tickets here.
In a four-star review of ‘Only God Was Above Us’, NME wrote: “It’s an ambitious concoction of sounds that don’t seem to exist in the same realm, yet intertwine naturally beneath [frontman Ezra] Koenig’s increasingly sullen vocals.”