Watch Vampire Weekend perform ‘Gen-X Cops’ and ‘Capricorn’ on ‘SNL’
Vampire Weekend performed ‘Gen-X Cops’ and ‘Capricorn’ while appearing as the musical guests on Saturday Night Live this weekend. Check out footage below.
The New York indie rockers’ visit to the late night show – which was hosted this week by Maya Rudolph – marked the first time they had played there in 11 years, and their fourth overall.
The band performed the two tracks from new album ‘Only God Was Above Us’, which NME hailed in a four-star review as a “technicolour, sprawling ode to a long-gone, old New York City”.
Ezra Koenig and co. were joined by producer Ariel Rechtshaid on guitar, while the band brought a piano to ‘Gen-X Cops’ and the addition of a string section for ‘Capricorn’.
Check out the performances below.
Next week will see SNL wrap up its current season with actor Jake Gyllenhaal hosting for the third time and Sabrina Carpenter as the musical guest. The actor previously led episodes in 2007 and 2022.
This week’s episode, meanwhile, saw Rudolph bring back her her sketch parodying Beyoncé taking on the Hot Ones challenge.
Reviewing ‘Only God Was Above Us’, NME added: “Despite its sentimental homages to the history of their hometown, ‘Only God Was Above Us’ isn’t a nostalgic album. Rather than adopting an overly rose tinted view of the past to cope with the present, Koenig seems to be fine with embracing that things just aren’t that great.
“And, in some ways, this brand of thinking can be interpreted as optimism – especially for a band intrinsically linked to the ‘before times’.”
In other recent news from the band, Vampire Weekend covered Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen during their appearance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival last month.
It was also the band’s first show without bassist Chris Baio since 2006, after he was laid low with an illness. “Folks, I’m laid out in bed with the flu today,” he wrote on Instagram, “and will be missing a vw show for the first time since fall of 2006.”
Vampire Weekend are due to hit the road for their 2024 UK and Ireland tour later this year. You can buy any remaining tickets here.
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Hollie Geraghty
NME
