Photos: Bill Kelly

Over the weekend, Vampire Weekend continued its Only God Was Above Us tour by stopping in The Centennial State. During the locational two-parter, the band kicked things off at the highly regarded Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colo., where they invited the night’s opener and guitar prodigy, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, to assist on a cover of Neil Young’s On the Beach contribution, “Vampire Blues.” Then, during their follow-up at Dillon Amphitheater, the New York-formed ensemble dipped into a partial play and first-time dabble into Grateful Dead fan favorite, “Shakedown Street.” 

Friday night, July 19, saw Vampire Weekend’s long-awaited stage time in Morrison, Colo., which featured heavy pulls of their latest studio project and tour namesake, Only God Was Above Us, including nine out of 10 album originators. After a 17-song build-up, the band landed on their so-called “Cocaine Cowboy Medley,” consisting of Father of the Bride’s “Married in a Goldrush” into borrowed tunes “All the Gold in California,” “Sin City,” the Dead’s “Cumberland Blues” and lastly Phish’s “Possum.” On the other side of the favored concert moment, Ingram added licks to Young’s original “Vampire Blues.” Notably, the number also represented a bust out for VW, which last covered the number on Aug. 20, 2019. 

During the band’s follow-up at Dillon Amphitheater on Saturday, July 20, they continued down a path of jamband tendencies, introducing a sample of the Grateful Dead’s “Shakedown Street” into their supersized encore sequence, comprised of partial plays of covers: Sublime’s “Santeria” into the Dead’s “Shakedown Street,” The Cure’s “Boy’s Don’t Cry,” The Smiths’ “Girlfriend in a Coma,” Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” before working in pieces of their own songbook with “Walcott” and Flower Moon.” 

Following this weekend’s Colorado dates, Vampire Weekend will return to the stage tonight, Monday, July 22, at the Starlight Theater in Kansas City. Tickets remain on sale.

Vampire Weekend 

Dillon Amphitheatre – Dillon, Colo. 

July 20, 2024

Set: Oxford Comma, Holiday, One (Blake’s Got a New Face), Ice Cream Piano, Classical, Connect, M79, Campus, This Life, Step, Sunflower, Run&, Pravda, Cousins, A-Punk, Ottoman^, Prep-School Gangsters, Capricorn, Gen-X Cops, Diane Young, Mary Boone, Hannah Hunt, Harmony Hall, Hope 

Enc.: Santeria > Shakedown Street > Boys Don’t Cry >Girlfriend in a Coma > Brown-Eyed Girl > Walcott > Flower Moon

Notes: 

& Bust out, last played on Jan. 9, 2020

^ Ska version 

+ Debut 

Vampire Weekend 

Red Rocks Amphitheatre – Morrison, Colo. 

July 19, 2024

Set: Cousins, Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, Boston (Ladies of Cambridge), Ice Cream Piano, Classical, Connect, White Sky, Unbelievers, This Life, Sympathy, New Dorp. New York, The Surfer, Sunflower, Capricorn, Gen-X Cops, Diane Young, A-Punk, Cocaine Cowboys Medley, Vampire Blues+, Prep-School Gangsters, Mary Boone, Harmony Hall, Hope 

Enc.: Do It Again > Girls Just Want to Have Fun > Pizza Party > Smooth Operator > Say It Ain’t So > Brownsville Girl > September > What’s Up? > Born to Run > Dancing in the Dark > The Middle > Walcott 

Notes: 

+ With Christon Kingfish Ingram 

Encore, all partial plays