Vampire Weekend to Play Ascend Amphitheater June 18

It’s now been over a decade since New York’s Vampire Weekend took the world by storm with their eponymous debut LP, released to an unbelievable mountain of hype just a few short years after first meeting and forming the band while students at Columbia. Back then, the power of blog buzz and the fever pitch of hipster culture and indie rock appetite was enough to land the group on the cover of SPIN before ever releasing an album. Though their first effort was certainly a masterpiece, and helped make them poster boys for that particular late aughts musical area, VW always felt more like a right place, right time sort of band more than a reaction to the indie scene. With baroque pop and world beat tones, their sound immediately set them apart, and while bookish and literary, any sense of pretension the band embodied felt earned and natural, not put-on for the purpose of seeming interesting. 2010’s Contra proved that the breakout success and broad pop accessibility of their first album was no fluke, and by 2013’s Modern Vampires in the City, the group had spent half a decade cementing their legacy as one of this generation’s finest indie acts, regularly earning top-line spots at festivals and playing big venues around the globe.

In recent years, however, indie rock’s boom has faded, seminal founding member Rostam Batmanglij has departed (though remains a creative collaborator), and Vampire Weekend have been uncharacteristically silent, save the occasional interview where, for years, they promised LP4 was in the works, even dropping tantalizing details like a “Kacey Musgraves influence” and a more springtime feel. Finally, last year, the band began mounting a proper comeback, first playing a handful of shows, and eventually announcing their long-awaited fourth album, Father of the Bride, due out May 10 on new label home Columbia, preempted by a pair of welcome new tunes last month, “Harmony Hall” and “2021.” For some bands, such a period of inactivity might diminish their steam, but for Vampire Weekend, who, again, never really fit in with many of their indie rock peers who’ve long since faded, they return bigger than ever, even announcing a massive North American tour which includes some of the largest venues of their career, including a June 18 stop at Ascend Amphitheater, their first show in Nashville since 2013.

With all of the excitement for Vampire Weekend’s return, we have no doubt that tickets for their tour will be a hot commodity, so we suggest grabbing them quick as soon as they go on sale, Friday, Feb. 8 at 12 p.m. CST right here (or you can try your luck registering for Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan pre-sale). We expect more new music to arrive soon as well, but, for now, check out fantastic new track “Harmony Hall” below!

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May 17 — Gulf Shores, AL — Hangout Music Festival
June 5 — Toronto, ON — RBC Echo Beach
June 7 — Indianapolis, IN — Farm Bureau Insurance Lawn at White River State Park
June 8 — Milwaukee, WI — BMO Harris Pavilion
June 9 — Minneapolis, MN — The Armory
June 11 — Madison, WI — The Sylvee
June 12 — St. Louis, MO — Fabulous Fox Theatre
June 14 — Cleveland, OH — Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica
June 15 — Cincinnati, OH — PNC Pavilion
June 16 — Chicago, IL — Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
June 18 — Nashville, TN — Ascend Amphitheater
June 21 — Raleigh, NC — Red Hat Amphitheater
June 22 — Charlotte, NC — Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre
June 23 — Dover, DE — Firefly Festival
August 16 — Oklahoma City, OK — The Criterion
August 17 — Houston, TX — White Oak Music Hall
August 18 — Dallas, TX —The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
August 20 — Austin, TX — ACL Live
August 21 — Austin, TX — ACL Live
August 24 — Miami, FL — James L. Knight Center
August 25 — St. Augustine, FL — St. Augustine Amphitheatre
August 27 — Atlanta, GA — Fox Theatre
August 30 — Norfolk, VA — Ted Constant Convocation Center
September 3 — Boston, MA — Agganis Arena
September 4 — Philadelphia, PA — Mann Center for the Performing Arts
September 6 — New York, NY — Madison Square Garden
September 8 — Montreal, QC — MTELUS
September 25 — Vancouver, BC — Festival Lawn at Deer Lake Park
September 27 — Seattle, WA — WaMu Theater
September 28 — Portland, OR — McMenamins Edgefield
October 1 — San Francisco, CA — Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
October 2 — Los Angeles, CA — Hollywood Bowl
October 3 — San Diego, CA — CalCoast Credit Union Open Air Theatre at SDSU
October 6 — Salt Lake City, UT— The Complex
October 8 — Denver, CO— Red Rocks Amphitheatre