Vampire Weekend headlined the Los Angeles festival Just Like Heaven last weekend, and performed a five-song “salute to indie” medley that included partial covers of Tame Impala, Phoenix, TV on the Radio, Beach House, and Grizzly Bear.
They started their headlining set as usual, but like many Vampire Weekend sets these days, they carved out a portion of the show’s climactic stretch to perform some cover songs. Since the festival itself was a dedication to indie rock circa 2000 to, say, 2015 (with fellow sets from Bloc Party, Empire of the Sun, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and a reunited Rilo Kiley and TV on the Radio), Vampire Weekend decided to dust off a few renditions of songs by their peers.
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They kicked off the covers section with a rendition of Phoenix’s “Lisztomania”; a fitting choice, as frontman Ezra Koenig guested with Phoenix at last year’s Just Like Heaven to perform their collaborative song “Tonight” as well as the fellow indie staple, “1901.”
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Before playing the next song, Koenig mentioned to the crowd that “A friend of mine said that Tame Impala’s not an indie band. He said they were psychedelic rock. Well, if my friend is correct, and I’m not sure he is, but if he’s correct: you don’t have to be an indie band to make an indie banger.” The band then proceeded to play through the first half of Tame Impala’s “The Less I Know the Better,” and kept the nostalgia going with a dreamy rendition of Beach House’s “Space Song.”
They closed out their “salute to indie” by playing Grizzly Bear’s “Two Weeks” — which was an extremely faithful cover, with harmonies, piano, snare rolls, and all — and then TV on the Radio’s “Wolf Like Me.” The latter was introduced by Koenig describing the Brooklyn group as “one of the all-time great bands that you heard today,” referring to their reunion set that occurred on the main stage earlier that evening. Watch a fan-captured clip of their five-song indie medley below.
Vampire Weekend have just kicked off their 2025 US tour, which takes place around festival appearances at Bonnaroo and Boston Calling this summer. They also have some fall tour dates mapped out, with sets at Shaky Knees and Oceans Calling still to come. Get tickets to see Vampire Weekend here.
@sydneybucksbaum I’m pretty sure I burned a CD with these exact songs on it in high school @Vampire Weekend @Just Like Heaven #VampireWeekend #JustLikeHeaven #indie #musicfestival #indiesleaze #covers
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