Vampire Weekend And Andrew W.K. Cover Tom Petty In The Rain

Two days after their 'Roo debut, VW played Summerstage (with Born Ruffians, Kid Sister, and host Andrew W.K.) in NYC's Central Park for free. That's Ezra Koenig drenched by rain, not sweat, captured by photog Kim Funk. It rained a lot! Vampire Weekend only have one album out (you may have heard about it?) so along with "White Sky" the band padded its oeuvre with a cool cover.

"Sometimes our sets are on the short side," Ezra told the crowd. "We played at Bonnaroo where sometimes people play for five hours, and we just edged over one hour, and we were very proud of ourselves. We felt like we had to do something special and we were just in Florida so we thought we would play a song by probably the greatest human being who ever came out of Gainesville, Florida. Some people deride this guy, say that he's like frat rock or whatever, but he's a true fucking poet."

Then, with Mr. W.K. on guitar, they launched into Southern Accents hit "Don't Come Around Here No More."

Hey!

The band's got a busy summer ahead. Itinerary below. If you catch up with them, maybe you can find out who exactly is calling Tom Petty frat rock.

Jun 21 2008 Popped! Music Festival - Drexel University - Philadelphia, PA
Jun 24 2008 Hove Festival - Arendal, Norway
Jun 25 2008 Accelerator - Stockholm, Sweden
Jun 27-28 2008 Glastonbury Festival - Glastonbury, UK
Jun 29 2008 The Eden Project - Cornwall, UK
Jul 1 2008 Tivoli - Utrecht, Holland
Jul 3 2008 Werchter Festival - Werchter, Belgium
Jul 4 2008 Solidays Festival - Paris, France
Jul 5 2008 Les Eurockeennes Festival - Belfort, France
Jul 6 2008 Main Square Festival - Roubaix, France
Jul 7 2008 Montreaux Jazz Fest / Miles Davis Hall - Montreaux, Switzerland
Jul 8 2008 Turin Spaziale Festival - Turin, Italy
Jul 10 2008 Alive Festival - Lisbon, Portugal
Jul 12 2008 Oxegen Festival - Naas, Ireland
Jul 13 2008 T in the Park - Kinross, Scotland
Jul 19 2008 Pitchfork Festival @ Union Park - Chicago, IL
Jul 20 2008 Rogers Picnic - Toronto, Canada
Jul 25 2008 Capital Hill Block Party - Seattle, WA
Jul 27 2008 Pemberton Festival - Pemberton, BC
Jul 29 2008 Pipeline Cafe - Honolulu, HI
Aug 3 2008 Splendour in the Grass Festival - Byron, New Zealand
Aug 4 2008 Metro - Sydney, Australia
Aug 6 2008 Prince of Wales - Melbourne, Australia
Aug 7 2008 Prince of Wales - Melbourne, Australia
Aug 9 2008 Summer Sonic - Tokyo - Tokyo, Japan
Aug 10 2008 Summer Sonic - Osaka - Osaka, Japan
Aug 22 2008 Reading Festival - Reading, UK
Aug 23 2008 Leeds Festival - Leeds, UK
Sep 13 2008 Monolith Festival - Red Rocks Denver, Colorado
Sep 17 2008 the Wiltern - Los Angeles, CA
Sep 18 2008 the Wiltern - Los Angeles, CA
Sep 23 2008 Rialto - Tucson, AZ
Sep 24 2008 Marquee Theatre - Tempe, AZ
Sep 27 2008 Austin City Limits - Zilker Park Austin, TX

Posted at 3:49 PM by Scott in Tour Dates, Video
Tags: Andrew W.K. | Tom Petty | Vampire Weekend

Share

14 Comments

well covered, vw.

Posted by: spencer at 06/15/08 7:24 PM | Reply
Score = 1

I really despise this band, but an agreeable cover I must admit.

Posted by: dano at 06/15/08 9:01 PM | Reply
Score = 1

very well covered indeed
and a wonderful wonderful concert

Posted by: genevieve at 06/15/08 9:24 PM | Reply
Score = 1

One fret/half step too low at 2:40...ouch

Posted by: fair herald at 06/15/08 9:34 PM | Reply
Score = -1

great cover!

Posted by: nadsat at 06/15/08 10:07 PM | Reply
Score = 0

Great guitar work --- it pumped new life into a classic track.

Posted by: Christopher at 06/15/08 10:08 PM | Reply
Score = -1

hey, don't you guys all hate vampire weekend and how they suck so much? i just love how they're so crappy and successful. they're such LOSERS! they should just give it up and move to the suburbs and be yuppies like they were meant to be because they went to an ivy league college. god i hate smart musicians. vampire weekend make me mad because they write catchy songs that made them successful, and also they went to an ivy league college and they're young and good looking. if it wasn't for those things i would really really probably like them

Posted by: johnny handsome at 06/15/08 11:00 PM | Reply
Score = -5

not bad! brooklynvegan's got some great photos posted now of all the adorable nyu kids rockin' out in the rain too. me, im good with the video footage.

Posted by: sarah at 06/15/08 11:01 PM | Reply
Score = -1

ANDREW WK = INSTANT WIN

Posted by: johni at 06/15/08 11:52 PM | Reply
Score = 2

So is Andrew WK a real person again or what?

Posted by: chase at 06/16/08 2:57 AM | Reply
Score = 0

Nice job on DCAHNM... One comment... The drum pattern gets a little in the way when played live. We use it only for the introduction and re-introduction when we play it in concert. It leaves nmore space for the vocal somehow. The recording (machine) track worked because of where, and how it sat in the track, it is hard to do that live. Try straightenng out the beat for the verses and choruses and see how it feels. Or, just take no notice of me at all.
Have a great tour.
Stephen Ferrone (Drums TP & THB's)

Posted by: Stephen Ferrone at 06/16/08 7:56 AM | Reply
Score = 7

Memorable show (mostly because of the rain), and I loved the Tom Petty cover, but I swear Andrew W.K.'s guitar wasn't even turned on, and I was watching very carefully...

Posted by: Tom at 06/16/08 9:08 AM | Reply
Score = 0

This is now going to be one of those things that I kick myself about having missed. I can't believe I let a little thunderstorm scare me off.

Posted by: ParkerLane at 06/16/08 10:58 AM | Reply
Score = 0

they covered "american girl" when they were in van, they must really like petty.

Posted by: matthew at 06/16/08 1:57 PM | Reply
Score = 0