In 2023, Vampire Weekend kicked off a special live album series on vinyl called Frog on the Bass Drum.
Instead of sticking with streaming, they decided to put out a second and now a third set, keeping things old-school by focusing on vinyl records. The brand new drop in the collection, titled Frog on the Bass Drum Vol. 03, is all about their back-to-back shows at Madison Square Garden while touring for Only God Was Above Us. There are two LPs this time—one is full of tracks from the opening night, and the other is packed with music from the laid-back Sunday afternoon performance. It feels rare these days to get something like this, and for true fans, it’s pretty exciting.
You can already place an order for Frog on the Bass Drum Vol. 03: Weekend at the Garden, but you’ll have to wait a bit since shipping isn’t happening until year’s end. It’s wild—there are only 3,000 of these 2xLP sets being made, so once they’re snatched up, that’s it.
Fans are probably going to argue over which live version is best.
By the way, Vampire Weekend sprinkled in a cover of “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” by Billy Joel, which seems surprisingly natural slotted among their typical setlist.
Here’s what they played on the new release, more or less out of order for fun: there’s “Ice Cream Piano,” “Sympathy → New Dorp, New York,” “White Sky,” and “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant,” not forgetting “Walcott → Flower Moon (Saturday Night Version).” The other side has “Bryn,” “Connect,” “Pravda,” and “Diplomat’s Son.” Then, there are some oddball moments like “Mary Boone” and a wild “Request Zone” full of oddities: the Seinfeld theme, “Monster Mash,” and “Theme from New York, New York.” They even close out with “Worship You → Ya Hey.”
Some people will probably miss one song or another, but the randomness is part of the charm—just the way concerts feel anyway.
