Vampire Weekend
Sorry, there are currently no events for Vampire Weekend.
Find More EventsAbout Vampire Weekend
Some bands stay in a holding pattern their whole careers. Others jerk the steering wheel hard and fly off the road. On their second album, Vampire Weekend do neither. Or maybe they do both.
"I think we sound more like Vampire Weekend than we did on the first record," says drummer Christopher Tomson. Contra pulls off a series of impressive feats: It's bustling with fresh ideas, and yet it sounds immediately familiar; it's heavily layered but taut and kinetic; it chews ravenously through sound palettes and rhythms, and yet it's nimble and assured; it's still breezy, and yet it smolders with a newfound emotional heft. "It's sadder than the first one, a bit more sentimental," says singer Ezra Koenig. The songs are catchy, fast, twinkling, clattering the darker themes of loss, doubt and regret accumulate almost imperceptibly, but they land a powerful blow. Ideas for this record had been bubbling since before the release of their debut.
The band started recording in January 2009, only two weeks after finishing an 18-month world tour supporting their first record. They had initially planned to work in California, feeling that the new record's spiritual home was the West Coast. The decision to work in New York, however, ultimately provided the freedom and perspective to properly realize their vision. That March, the band toured Mexico for the first time. They recorded new material blocks away from Frida Kahlo's house in the Coyoacán neighborhood of Mexico City.
In Monterrey they found a kindred spirit in DJ/Producer Toy Selectah, exchanging ideas and philosophies over days spent listening to records in his home studio. They returned to New York energized. The finished product explodes any reductive notions of what constitutes Vampire Weekend's sound and aesthetic. The varied influences here include third-wave ska, the Hallelujah Chicken Run Band, Brazilian baile funk, Congolese thumb pianos, Repo Man, Sublime's 40 Oz. to Freedom, reggaeton, bachata, Bollywood, Philip Roth, Beethoven, NYC 1983, dancehall, and the Beastie Boys' second album, Paul's Boutique. All of these influences are incorporated with subtlety and sophistication, woven together into a seamless fabric of references that, heard in full, resembles nothing so much as itself. Vampire Weekend's music and lyrics serve to both construct and deconstruct a world around them. Like the word "contra" itself, the songs are layered with meaning and invite interpretation. With this album, Vampire Weekend have staked out an alien territory literate, crackling, alive that's unmistakably their own.
Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend turns indie rock into something crisp, bookish, and rhythmically bright, with guitars, keys, drums, and quick writing all moving in tight focus. The New York band built a sound full of clean guitar lines, clever lyrics, chamber-pop detail, and rhythms that pull from beyond standard rock.1,2
Their catalog has kept that restless curiosity intact, from the Grammy-winning Modern Vampires of the City to the Grammy-winning Father of the Bride.
Get Vampire Weekend tickets on AXS and hear the band perform live.
Vampire Weekend’s Background
Vampire Weekend’s story starts at Columbia University, where Ezra Koenig, Chris Baio, Chris Tomson, and Rostam Batmanglij met as students before playing together in their senior year.1 Early shows took place in campus spaces and frat houses, while some of the band’s first EP material was recorded in Columbia dorms and music rooms.1
Online music blogs helped the early demos gain traction, and the band’s name came from an unfinished film project Koenig started writing during college.1 Their first album, Vampire Weekend, arrived in 2008 with songs such as A-Punk, Campus, and Oxford Comma, giving the band a debut that sounded different from much of the indie rock around it at the time.1
Vampire Weekend’s Awards
Vampire Weekend’s awards history centers on albums that pushed indie rock into more detailed, layered territory without losing the band’s identity.
- Grammy Award – Best Alternative Music Album (2014): Modern Vampires of the City won Best Alternative Music Album at the 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards.3
- Grammy Award – Best Alternative Music Album (2020): Father of the Bride won Best Alternative Music Album at the 62nd Annual GRAMMY Awards.3
- Gold Derby Music Awards – Best Rock/Alternative Album (2025): Only God Was Above Us won Best Rock/Alternative Album at the 2025 Gold Derby Music Awards.4,5
Vampire Weekend’s Biggest Hits
Vampire Weekend’s most-played songs still point back to the self-titled debut, where quick guitars, clipped rhythms, and East Coast detail gave the band its early signature.
- A-Punk (2008): From Vampire Weekend, A-Punk is the band’s clearest calling card, with fast guitar lines and a chorus that helped define their early sound.6
- Campus (2008): Also from Vampire Weekend, Campus brings the band’s Columbia-era experiences into one of the debut’s cleanest, most direct tracks.6
- Oxford Comma (2008): From the same debut album, Oxford Comma turns a grammar joke into one of Vampire Weekend’s wittiest and most quoted songs.6
See Vampire Weekend Live
Vampire Weekend live shows can move past the standard album set, mixing fan favorites, deeper cuts, requests, covers, and longer arrangements. Some performances stretch past two hours, giving the band space to move between early songs, newer material, and loose live detours.5
Browse Vampire Weekend tickets on AXS for upcoming tour dates and live shows.
Frequently Asked Questions
Information About Vampire Weekend Concerts
Sources
- Vampire Weekend - The Barnard Bulletin
- About Vampire Weekend - The Yale Herald
- Vampire Weekend Grammy Awards and Nominations, Song & Bio - Grammy
- 5th Annual Gold Derby Music Awards nominations list: Charli XCX leads with 11 - Gold Derby
- Vampire Weekend Awards - IMDb
- Vampire Weekend - Kworb
- Vampire Weekend Concert Review - Variety
- Vampire Weekend - LiveRate