Ahead of Tuesday’s Iowa Caucus, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders held a campaign rally at the University of Iowa Field House on Saturday evening. His speech was preceded by performances from Vampire Weekend and Foster the People. (Killer Mike canceled his appearance due to a loss in the family.)
For Vampire Weekend, it marked not only the band’s first performance in nearly two years, but also there first time on stage since the departure of founding member Rostam Batmanglij. Frontman Ezra Koenig and drummer Chris Thompson were joined by Dirty Projectors’ Dave Longstreth, and the University of Iowa Hawkapellas a capella group. They performed acoustic renditions of “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” and “Unbelievers”. Following Sanders’ speech, they returned to the stage to lead a singalong of “This Land is Your Land”.
Below, replay Vampire Weekend’s initial performance at the 46:15 mark, and the singalong of “This Land Is Your Land” at the 1:24:00 mark.
