On Wednesday night, I saw New York legends Vampire Weekend play an absolutely astonishing two-and-a-half-hour set in Charlottesville, Virginia. I went to plenty of Vampire Weekend shows back in the day, and they were always fun, but I was not ready for the overwhelming force of their present-day live show. They’ve got a big, expansive backup band that helps turn their already-great tracks into expansive jam-outs that never get too indulgent. All of it sounds incredible — the old songs, the new songs, the by–request covers. They’ve truly become a top-shelf big-stage band. The day after that Charlottesville show, Vampire Weekend returned to their New York hometown for a surprise gig at a place with no stage at all.

Despot, the elusive underground rap great and frequent guest on Ezra Koenig’s internet radio show Time Crisis, is one of the two owners of Time Again, which is apparently the current bar of choice for New York cool kids. Clipse recently played a surprise set there, and there’s a recent GQ feature about how it’s “the hottest club in NYC.” On Thursday afternoon, the sidewalk outside Time Again was the site of a pop-up Vampire Weekend set that drew a whole lot of excited onlookers.

Vampire Weekend played Time Again without most of their backing-band members, though they did have a keyboard player with them. They ran through a bunch of songs, looked casual, and sounded mostly great. This was the warm-up for Vampire Weekend’s upcoming shows at Madison Square Garden. Those sets will include a Sunday matinee, as if they were Agnostic Front and MSG was CBGB. At those shows, they’ll be joined by the Billy Joel tribute act Turnstiles. The Brothers Malkovitch, the duo of A-Trak and Chromeo’s Dave 1, also play the Saturday show, and Mark Ronson is playing Sunday. I bet those shows are going to go off. Watch some videos from the Time Again set below, via Brooklyn Vegan.

Nothing better than commuting home in #NYC to find @vampireweekend playing on the street pic.twitter.com/mrWuidQduP

— Live Nation (@LiveNation) October 3, 2024

Right now on Canal St right before the Manhattan Bridge @vampireweekend is performing live on the street! pic.twitter.com/kzifhYrrpn

— foodmasku (@foodmasku) October 3, 2024

Killer set to stumble upon on my bike ride home from work @vampireweekend

Proud to represent the TC + VW fan contingent in Chinatown today @timecrisis2000

Jokerman also ruled pic.twitter.com/ND685z4Xfw

— adam (@gerberandpals) October 3, 2024

vampire weekend (nyc band) pic.twitter.com/i96Oc30Eef

— rebounder (@reboundernyc) October 3, 2024

it finally happened to me: I stumbled upon a free concert in nyc with a very well known band playing to a small crowd!! hi vampire weekend ! pic.twitter.com/8oDMGiXv7t

— Meredith Renee (@merewilsh) October 3, 2024