Vampire Weekend were the musical guest on last night’s episode of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Maya Rudolph. It was the first time the indie rock band has played the NBC show in 11 years and its fourth time overall. Joined by producer Ariel Rechtshaid on guitar, Vampire Weekend broke out a piano solo during “Gen-X Cops” and played “Capricorn” with some help from a string section, both of which appear on their latest album, Only God Was Above Us. Rudolph also revived her sketch parodying Beyoncé on Hot Ones. Watch the band’s performances, that sketch, and their SNL promo video together with Kenan Thompson, below.
The first time Vampire Weekend appeared on Saturday Night Live was back in 2008, playing the breakout hit “A-Punk” and “M79” from their self-titled debut. They also showed up as musical guests in 2010, performing “Cousins” and “Giving Up the Gun,” from Contra, and again in 2013, doing live versions of “Diane Young” and “Unbelievers” from Modern Vampires of the City.
The band has been plenty busy promoting this new album. Last month, Vampire Weekend played a special show in Austin, Texas, to coincide with the solar eclipse; joined the jam band Goose in Port Chester, New York, for a 31-minute take on “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa;” and took over SiriusXMU for a weekend where they covered Grateful Dead’s “Peggy-O” with help from Amber Coffman and violinist Ray Suen.
Read about Only God Was Above Us on Pitchfork’s list “The Best Music of 2024 So Far.”