We haven’t heard much from Vampire Weekend lately, as the band has been on a break from playing live since last summer. However, fans at Governors Ball got a little teaser today (June 5), as longtime buds Chromeo brought out VW’s Ezra Koenig for a surprise performance.
Mid-set, Chromeo frontman Dave Macklovitch slowed things down after “Come Alive,” saying, “There’s this little guitar thing I’ve been working on.” The very tight-panted singer toyed around with a riff, which eventually turned into the familiar Afropoppy intro of Vampire Weekend’s self-titled album track “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa.”
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Next up, Ezra himself was onstage, They jammed out the song together, giving all on hand the closest thing to a Vampire Weekend live performance they’ll likely see for some time. In the song’s refrain, Ezra replaced “Peter Gabriel too” with “here with Chromeo.”
Ezra also teamed with Chromeo for a performance of their song “Bonafide Lovin.” Check it out:
Later on, Ezra shared the Chromeo set list, complete with “Ezra bit”:
The Vampire Weekend-Chromeo bromance has been going on for some time. The funk lords appeared in Vampire Weekend’s “Diane Young” music video and Koenig guested on their 2014 album White Women. Vampire Weekend formed at Columbia University, where Macklovitch earned a Ph.D. and taught classes. The Columbia music department might as well show videos of this performance to impress visiting high schoolers.