Photo Credit: Steven Rood

On Tuesday, June 18, Mike Gordon continued his current run of special guest performances for Vampire Weekend’s Only God Was Above Us Tour, staging the third of five shows together at Deer Lake Park in Burnaby, British Columbia. For the duo’s one and only international performance–one of three Canadian shows in Vampire Weekend’s sprawling 2024 tour–Gordon joined the indie vanguard for his first sit-in of the run so-far, adding co-lead vocals and virtuosic bass to Vampire Weekend’s “Rich Man.”

Gordon opened the show with a set from his solo band, the quintet featuring Scott Murawski, Robert Walter, Craig Myers and John Morgan Kimock that made headlines over the weekend with the highly anticipated debut of “Human Nature” and the “Blender Jam.” So far in its opener run, the band has presented a six-track mix of Gordon originals, plus two Phish cuts of “Human Nature” and “Carini.”

After the band’s enthralling warm-up performance, Vampire Weekend took the stage for a 20-song set loaded with certified classics and beloved new entries alike. Beyond trademarks like “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa,” “A-Punk,” “Diane Young,” “Cousins” and the opener of “Mansard Roof,” from the group’s groundbreaking 2008 self-titled debut, Vampire Weekend dished out a heavy serving of selects from its latest record, Only God Was Above Us, bringing every song but “Pravda” and “The Surfer” to the Canadian crowd.

At the set’s midpoint, the band welcomed Gordon to return to the stage to compliment a treatment of “Rich Man,” from the band’s Grammy-winning 2019 album Father of the Bride. Gordon previously debuted a cover of the Sierra Leonean-inflected song on his summer 2023 tour, debuting the cut in an engagement at Chicago’s Thalia Hall. After this high-point, Vampire Weekend brought the crowd’s energy to a second peak in the encore, which comprised a medley of short treatments of fan-requested covers, including The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside,” The Specials’ “A Message To You Rudy” and the Grateful Dead’s iconic “Uncle John’s Band,” which continued the band’s recent string of overt expressions of appreciation for the jam community.

Gordon and Vampire Weekend will perform again tonight, June 19, at Bend, Ore.’s Hayden Homes Amphitheater, then conclude their collaborative run with a follow-up tomorrow in Seattle. For tickets and more information, visit vampireweekend.com.

Watch a fan-recorded video of the “Rich Man” team up below.