Vampire Weekend continued its foray into the jam band world in Vermont on Saturday by paying homage to local jam heroes Twiddle with a cover of “Jamflowman”—well, kind of.

The moment came during the encore as the band took requests from the crowd. Following fan-requested takes on songs by Paul Simon and fun., Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig teased a few lines of “Jamflowman”, acknowledging the song’s local significance while admitting the band didn’t quite have it down. “We should work on that. That could be a sick cover,” he quipped, adding, “Shout out to Mihali.”

The off-the-cuff tribute didn’t come entirely out of nowhere—Koenig previously dissected the song on his Time Crisis radio show back in 2019, defending its earnestness while poking fun at the gatekeeping tendencies of jam scene purists:

I honestly have a theory that some jam heads don’t like this [song] because it hits a little too close to home. … I’m not a hater of this song—far from it—but if I put myself in the haters’ shoes for a second, I think the thing that they might not like about it is there’s a kinda like dorky earnestness in the way he talks about this character the Jamflowman. ‘Cause basically the whole song is like have you heard about this guy the Jamflowman? … He’s a shredder, he’s so good at jamming, he’s so awesome, he plays shows across the land, and he kills every jam. … Is that really that different than most jam fans? What if I told you the Jamflowman was Mr. Jerry Garcia? Now suddenly is it so dorky that he’s excited and enthusiastic about the Jamflowman? What if I told you the Jamflowman was Trey Anastasio? Suddenly it looks a little different.

Jamflowman Deep Dive — Time Crisis with Ezra Koenig

[Video: Joe White]

Koenig’s admiration for Twiddle almost manifested in 2020, when Twiddle was slated to open dates on the Father of the Bride Tour, but the pandemic upended those plans.

Since then, Vampire Weekend has made its affinity for the jam scene apparent a number of times, teaming up with Mike Gordon of Phish, letting “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” unravel into a 30-minute odyssey with Goose, and working covers of songs by Phish and the Grateful Dead into its live sets. That pattern continued on Saturday as the band played “Fire on the Mountain” for the third time. Drummer Chris Tomson also seemed to tease Phish’s “Maze” before the band attempted “Walking on the Moon” by The Police.

Vampire Weekend will continue to jam across the land on the remainder of the Only God Was Above Us Tour, which lands in Portland, ME tomorrow night and carries through September. Find a list of upcoming shows and ticketing details here.

Watch Vampire Weekend (kind of) cover “Jamflowman” by Twiddle, beginning at 6:00.

Vampire Weekend — Encore Song Requests — 5/27/25

[Video: Concerts Hub]

Setlist: Vampire Weekend | Champlain Valley Fairgrounds and Exposition Center | Essex Junction, VT | 5/27/25

Set: Hold You Now, Holiday, Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, Ice Cream Piano, Classical, Connect, White Sky, Step, This Life, Sunflower, Sympathy, Stranger (w/ “Birdland” tease), Pravda, Capricorn, Gen-X Cops, Diane Young, Cousins, A-Punk, Prep-School Gangsters, Mary Boone, Hannah Hunt, Harmony Hall, Hope

Encore: Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes / You Can Call Me Al (Paul Simon), Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard (Paul Simon), We Are Young (Fun.), Jamflowman (Twiddle), Chop Suey! (System of a Down), Psycho Killer (Talking Heads), Bring Me to Life (Evanescence), Fire on the Mountain (Grateful Dead), Walking on the Moon (The Police), Take It Easy (Eagles), Thunderstruck (AC/DC), Walcott