Vampire Weekend Go Unplugged To Honor Jerry Garcia With Gorgeous Cover Debut In Milwaukee

Vampire Weekend has been devoting large swaths of each encore on their current tour to attempting covers requested by fans. While most songs are fun, partial renditions the band hadn’t worked up before the show, they clearly spent time arranging a tribute to Jerry Garcia that began their encore last night in Milwaukee.

The Ezra Koenig-fronted band unveiled a cover of the late Grateful Dead guitarist’s “Reuben & Cerise” to start their encore at the BMO Pavilion. Vampire Weekend delivered an acoustic arrangement of the Hunter/Garcia gem on what would have been Jerry’s 82nd birthday.

The History Of “Reuben & Cerise”

Jerry Garcia originally released “Reuben & Cerise” on his 1978 solo album, Cats Under The Stars (spelled “Rubin And Cherise,” and later correctly spelled in Hunter’s lyrics book), the year after he first played the song live at a Jerry Garcia Band concert. “Reuben & Cerise” remained a staple of his various solo projects through the last JGB show on April 23, 1995.

“Reuben & Cerise” finally crossed over to the Grateful Dead repertoire on St. Patrick’s Day in 1991 at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland. The Dead played two additional versions that spring and then shelved the song after a fourth and final performance on June 9, 1991 at Ohio’s Buckeye Lake Music Center.

Jerry Garcia discussed the lengthy gestation period for the development of “Reuben & Cerise” when asked by Jas Obrecht in a 1985 interview if any of the songs he penned were particularly frustrating. “‘Reuben & Cerise’ took about three years to write, literally – maybe longer than that,” Garcia explained. “I kept writing and writing versions of it – ‘Oh, this sucks.’ Hunter would rewrite the lyrics: ‘No, that doesn’t make it.’ I’d write a new melody: ‘No, that isn’t it.’ It’s so utterly and totally different from the very first conception of it. That went on forever. It just went on forever.”

Vampire Weekend Plays Dead

Vampire Weekend has been embracing the jam band ethos with Koening telling SiriusXM that the group could be described as a “slow-motion jam band” and drummer Chris Tomson long promoting Phish and various other acts from the scene with his choice of t-shirts. VW unveiled their take on the Grateful Dead’s version of traditional ballad “Peggy-O” at the SiriusXM studios earlier this year.

Grateful Dead covers have often been requested by fans during recent encores. “Shakedown Street,” “Touch Of Grey,” “Cumberland Blues,” “Casey Jones” and “Uncle John’s Band” have been attempted by Vampire Weekend thus far. Additionally, portions of “Cumberland Blues” have been fit into most performances of the band’s “Cocaine Cowboys” mashup this tour.

Vampire Weekend Unveils “Reuben & Cerise”

After a 21-song main set, Vampire Weekend returned to the stage last night sporting acoustic instruments to start the encore. Koenig led the band through a beautiful version of “Reuben & Cerise” on the occasion of Garcia’s birthday. The arrangement also incorporated fiddle, sax, tambourine and Tomson on acoustic guitar.

Watch fan-shot video of Vampire Weekend’s “Reuben & Cerise” cover debut below:

Vampire Weekend then reeled off a string of eclectic covers by request including partial takes on Lady Gaga’s “Shallow,” DEVO’s “Whip It,” Billy Joel’s “It’s Still Rock And Roll To Me,” Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing In The Dark.” The extended bonus frame continued with a tribute to The Beach Boys in the form of attempts at “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “Surf’s Up” and “Don’t Worry Baby.”

The band still wasn’t done as they turned in an abbreviated of Father Of The Bride cut “Flower Moon” and full versions of beloved originals “I Think UrA Contra” and “Walcott.” Vampire Weekend ends the latest leg of their Only God Was Above Us Tour on Saturday at Iowa’s Hinterland festival.