Vampire Weekend celebrated the release of its new album, the solar eclipse and frontman Ezra Koenig's 40th birthday on Monday (April 8) with a special gig at the Moody Amphitheater in Austin, Tx.
The band released its fifth album, Only God Was Above Us, on Friday (April 5) and kicked off its tour Monday in Austin. The afternoon concert, which was live streamed on Veeps, began before the eclipse, but the band took a break midway through the set so fans could enjoy the solar spectacular, and then resumed the show after the eclipse.
Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" played over the P.A. prior to the band hitting the stage. During the first half of the show, several songs on the new album were given their live debut, including the album- and set-opener "Ice Cream Piano," "Connect," and "Gen-X Cops," according to setlist.fm.
After the break for the eclipse viewing, the band returned with the live debut of "Hope," as well as a cover of Phoenix's "Tonight" featuring that band's frontman Thomas Mars as a surprise guest.
Mars stuck around to sing "Happy Birthday" to Koenig in French, with another special guest, Dave 1 of Chromeo. The band then launched into a cover of Chromeo's "Needy Girl" with Dave 1.
Unfortunately, Monday was cloudy in Austin, but the eclipse did eventually break through the clouds. Vampire Weekend shared the moment in a video clip on its official Instagram account. Fans can be heard cheering as the clouds break momentarily revealing the eclipse. Vampire Weekend captioned the video, "What a moment."
Fans agreed with one posting, "Best Vampire show I've ever been to!! Thank y'all for an amazing afternoon!"
Another commented, "the show was amazing thanks for livestreaming it 🫶🏻"
Some of the show was also streamed on Live Nation's YouTube channel, but there was a problem with the audio.
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