Watch Vampire Weekend cover Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen at New Orleans Jazz Festival

Vampire Weekend covered Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen during their appearance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival last night (April 27) – check out footage below. 

Their set included first-time-ever performances of Dylan deep cut ‘When He Returns’, first released on 1979’s ‘Slow Train Coming’, as well as The Boss’ 1980 hit ‘Hungry Heart’. 

It was the band’s first show without bassist Chris Baio since 2006, after he was laid low with an illness. “Folks, I’m laid out in bed with the flu today,” he wrote on Instagram, “and will be missing a vw show for the first time since fall of 2006.” 

Watch Vampire Weekend’s one-off covers here: 

 The band released their fifth studio album ‘Only God Was Above Us’ earlier this month. In a four-star review, NME wrote: “There’s a ring of distinctly millennial buoyancy in their early records, an attitude that has crashed and burned in the years since. And, while 2019’s ‘Father Of The Bride’ offered sun-soaked musings on the dread of modern life, this time around they seem to have, albeit reluctantly, found peace with all we can’t change.” 

The New Yorkers are due to hit the road this November in support of the album. They were already scheduled to play two nights at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith on December 4 and 5, along with a show at the O2 Academy Brixton on December 10, but they have now added a second Brixton show on December 11 too. Tickets are available here. 
Vampire Weekend’s 2024 UK and Ireland headline dates are: 
NOVEMBER
29 – 3Arena, Dublin

DECEMBER
01 – O2 Apollo, Manchester
02 – O2 Apollo, Manchester
04 – Eventim Apollo, London
05 – Eventim Apollo, London
06 – The Halls, Wolverhampton
08 – OVO Hydro, Glasgow
10 – O2 Academy Brixton, London
11 – O2 Academy Brixton, London   

Vampire Weekend are due to perform at Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Luton next month. Other festival appearances for the season include Primavera Sound, Kilby Block Party and Hinterland. 

The group recently kicked off a run of North American dates with a special show in Austin, Texas, which coincided with the total solar eclipse. 

They have since made a last-minute appearance at the first weekend of Coachella 2024, where they were joined on stage by Paris Hilton.