Watch Vampire Weekend Play A Christmasy “Harmony Hall” With A Kids’ Choir On The Late Late Show
Right now, James Corden, star of the movie Cats, is taking a week off of his Late Late Show to film the Netflix movie The Prom. So instead of James Corden, we’re getting a week of Late Late Show episodes with celebrity guest hosts. Thus far, that’s led to a few fun little musical moments: Billie Eilish singing with Alicia Keys, Harry Styles being foxy. And last night, it meant we got Vampire Weekend in holiday mode.
At this point, Vampire Weekend have gotten done with the late-night rounds, and they don’t really have to do a whole lot more to hype up their triumphant comeback album Father Of The Bride. But Rashida Jones, significant other of Vampire Weekend leader Ezra Koenig, was last night’s guest host. So maybe that’s why we got a special Vampire Weekend moment on last night’s show.
For the purposes of this television program, Vampire Weekend played the Father Of The Bride single “Harmony Hall,” making adjustments to turn it into something Christmas-appropriate. They did not turn the song into “Holiday Hall,” which is what I would’ve done. Instead, they performed with a children’s choir, who opened things up by singing a version of the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s “Christmas Time Is Here,” the immortal jam from 1965’s A Charlie Brown Christmas. The choir stuck with the band throughout, and they ended the song by singing the chorus over sleigh bells. This worked surprisingly well. It’s fun to hear adorable little tykes singing about wicked snakes inside the place you thought was dignified. And Vampire Weekend, who have spent most of the year touring, continue to sound just awesome while playing live. Watch the performance below.
Father Of The Bride is out now on Spring Snow/Columbia.