Over the weekend, Vampire Weekend was featured as the focus of an hour-long episode of Austin City Limits that aired Saturday; you can watch the entire performance here.
The band have recently released their fourth studio album Father of the Bride, and taped their career-spanning performance of 10 tracks at Austin’s Moody Theatre. Songs performed hail from the band’s self-titled 2008 debut album as well as their new project, including a gorgeous rendition of ‘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’.
“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.”
