As chaotic and inventive as Vampire Weekend‘s arrangements get over five studio albums, things never feel out of control. The production and mixing are impressively ornate, a wedding cake that could topple if one note lands out of place. And while the instrumentation and complexity of their songs have only grown through the years — leading up to 2024’s excellent and dense fifth album, “Only God Was Above Us” — the band’s live show has only loosened, allowing for some shaggy dog moments on fan favorites. Fortunately, the music is all the better for it.
The band, nearing the end of the second leg of their marathon “Only God” tour, stopped by Montclair, New Jersey’s tiny Wellmont Theater to play four nights as a hometown gig for singer and guitar player Ezra Koenig and drummer Chris Tomson, who were raised in the Garden State. Considering the band played two shows at Madison Square Garden the last time they were in the tristate, the venue created an intimacy perfect for the set’s opening. The band, a trio with bassist Chris Baio, began the Sept. 18 show with low-fi renditions of band-defining hits “Unbelievers,” “Holiday” and “One (Blake’s Got a New Face),” instant sing-alongs which played to the group’s earlier, spikier instincts.
With the drop of a curtain, the band went into new record mode with a trio of Side-A songs from “Only God,” flanked by a large touring band with five more musicians. While the gang certainly fleshed out the sound, it did leave Koenig’s vocals constantly at the edge of audibility — which, to be fair, might have been a result of the much-smaller venue. But while one could ask if Vampire Weekend is the sort of band that needs a second drum set, manned by percussionist Garrett Ray, or two additional guitars to supplement Koenig’s sharp playing, it does allow their compositions to have more texture.
Around ten songs into their two-hour-plus show, the band grew much looser, taking the 2019 cut “Sunflower” for a walk. The Grateful Dead-inspired track sounded sharp with the fleet of musicians tackling the groove, and it was clear this was the direction the band found most exciting. Jammier moments never derailed the tighter songs, but rather gave them a dash of new energy, be it piano flourishes during the verses of “Harmony Hall” or sax in “Cousins.”
The new feel to these hits imprinted into fans’ brains never made them unrecognizable, but it was refreshing to hear the band finding sly new ways into material they’ve played endlessly. In a year where more and more bands with Millennial fanbases are touring in order to cash out on album anniversaries and monetize the warm, fuzzy feelings of youth, it’s nice to know that Vampire Weekend is nowhere near a nostalgia act. Instead, they’re a band worth growing old with.
