Vampire Weekend continued its jam band flirtations this weekend at the Metropolitan Opera House in Philadelphia with a take on Grateful Dead-favored folk song “Peggy-O” (with Weyes Blood) on Friday and an acoustic cover of Jerry Garcia Band classic “Rubin & Cherise” on Saturday.
While Vampire Weekend regularly includes snippets of fan-requested songs in its encores, both Friday’s “Peggy-O” and Saturday’s “Rubin & Cherise” got complete readings during the band’s main set. With an expanded lineup featuring a backing fiddle and (painted) mandolin, the iconic songs seemed right at home with Ezra Koenig (and, on Friday, Weyes Blood) singing them. While the band has played “Peggy-O” a handful of times before, the only prior Vampire Weekend live take on “Rubin & Cherise” came last year in Milwaukee on Garcia’s birthday, August 1st, per Setlist.fm.
This marks Vampire Weekend’s latest crossover with the world of improvisational rock, coming a week after the band nodded to Twiddle by request in Vermont with a snippet of “Jamflowman”. The band has also gone all-in on “Chalk Dust Torture” with Phish’s Mike Gordon and jammed out the original “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” for 30 minutes with Goose. That’s not to mention the group’s rotating “Cocaine Cowboys” medley, which mashes up songs like the Dead’s “Cumberland Blues” and Phish’s “Possum” with the original “Married in a Gold Rush” and covers of “All the Gold in California”, “Sin City”, and more.
Below, watch Vampire Weekend cover Jerry Garcia Band’s “Rubin & Cherise” and Grateful Dead-favored folk song “Peggy-O” (with Weyes Blood) in Philadelphia. The band’s Only God Was Above Us Tour continues this week with shows in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and South Carolina. Find tickets and tour dates here.
Vampire Weekend w/ Weyes Blood – “Peggy-O” – 5/30/25
[Video: Jim Powers]
Vampire Weekend — “Rubin & Cherise” (Jerry Garcia Band) — 5/31/25
[Video: Adam Tabor]
Setlist: Vampire Weekend | Metropolitan Opera House | Philadelphia, PA | May 30, 2025
Set: Mansard Roof, Holiday, I Stand Corrected, Ice Cream Piano, Classical, Connect, White Sky, Step, This Life, Sympathy, New Dorp. New York (SBTRKT), The Surfer, Don’t Lie, Peggy-O (traditional) [1], Married in a Gold Rush [1], Andromeda (Weyes Blood) [1], I Think Ur a Contra, Capricorn, Diane Young, Cousins, A-Punk, Run, Mary Boone, Harmony Hall, Hope
Encore: Lisztomania (Phoenix), The Less I Know the Better (Tame Impala), Space Song (Beach House), Two Weeks (Grizzly Bear), Wolf Like Me (TV on the Radio), Can You Tell (Ra Ra Riot) [2], Someday (The Strokes) [2], Dance Yrself Clean (LCD Soundsystem) [2], Maps (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) [2], Worship You, Ya Hey
[1] with Weyes Blood
[2] Shortened, by audience request
Setlist: Vampire Weekend | Metropolitan Opera House | Philadelphia, PA | May 31, 2025
Set: Hold You Now, Oxford Comma, One (Blake’s Got a New Face), Ice Cream Piano, Classical, Connect, Unbelievers, Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, This Life, Stranger, Diplomat’s Son, Giving Up the Gun, We Belong Together, Don’t Lie [1], Rubin and Cherise (Jerry Garcia Band) [1], I Think Ur a Contra [1], Capricorn, Gen-X Cops, Diane Young, A-Punk, Campus, Mary Boone, Hannah Hunt, Harmony Hall
Encore: Lisztomania (Phoenix), The Less I Know the Better (Tame Impala), Space Song (Beach House), Two Weeks (Grizzly Bear), Wolf Like Me (TV on the Radio), Electric Feel (MGMT), Son of a Preacher Man (Dusty Springfield), Sugar, Sugar (The Archies), Heart of Glass (Blondie), Big Yellow Taxi (Joni Mitchell), Sex and Candy (Marcy Playground), Young Folks (Peter Bjorn and John), Bitter Sweet Symphony (The Verve), Laid (James), Santeria (Sublime), M79 [2], Like a Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan), Walcott, SNL Closing Theme (A Waltz in A) (Howard Stone) / Flower Moon
[1] Acoustic
[2] Shortened