Vampire Weekend were the focus of an hour-long episode of Austin City Limits that aired Saturday; watch the entire 10-song performance here.
The band, which released its fourth studio album Father of the Bride in May, taped the career-spanning performance at Austin’s Moody Theatre in August, a gig that featured tracks from the band’s self-titled 2008 debut as well as their latest LP, including a lengthy rendition of Father of the Bride‘s “Sunflower.”
Ahead of the episode’s premiere, Vampire Weekend shared an exclusive video of their performance of the Father of the Bride track “Harmony Hall” with Rolling Stone.
“There’s never been a better time to appreciate Vampire Weekend, given the world we live in today,” ACL executive producer Terry Lickona said in a statement. “I’ve always been a fan of Ezra Koenig’s voice and his new songs are more personal and inward-looking than ever. Vampire Weekend has remained tried-and-true – popular without ever becoming pop!”
Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig recently discussed finding joy within the project again with Rolling Stone. “Toward the end of Modern Vampires, Vampire Weekend definitely needed a reboot,” he said. “I think with a lot of artists, your career is a really be-careful-what-you-wish-for scenario. You want to do music full-time. Unless you have a trust fund, the idea of doing music full-time seems like this distant thing. I graduated from college and I was a teacher, and I liked things about it, but I would get really panicked when I would think that I’d never be able to do music full-time. And then, a mere five, six years later, I wasn’t sure I wanted to do music full-time either, because I’d been burned out on the road. Finding that balance is tricky, and maybe some people find it to be a corny word, but joy is an important thing.”
This fall, Vampire Weekend revealed they would be embarking on a 2020 tour, which will kick off May 29th at the Maine Savings Pavilion in Westbrook, Maine for a 19 date-run before wrapping October 7th in Birmingham, Alabama.