Feb 01, 2016
Bernie Sanders, one of the three Democratic candidates left for the 2016 U.S. election, hosted Vampire Weekend and many others at an Iowa rally last Saturday. Co-founder of the
band Rostam Batmanglij and bassist Chris Baio were not in attendance, as Batmanglij
announced his departure from the band earlier last week.
The rally also included a performance from Mark Foster, lead singer and founder of
Foster the People, performing an acoustic performance of “Houdini” from 2011’s Torches and a
song from before he established Foster the People. Foster described it as a song written when
he, “first packed up [his] car in Ohio at eighteen and moved out to L.A. and all the craziness that
ensued.” He finished his set with “The Truth” from the 2014 album, Supermodel.
The makeshift band of lead singer Ezra Koenig and drummer Chris Tomson came
midway through the rally and included the Dirty Projector’s Dave Longstreth and the University
of Iowa’s female a cappella group, the Hawkapellas. Rally-goers enjoyed a set including “Cape
Cod Kwassa Kwassa” from 2008’s self-titled album and “Unbelievers” from 2013’s Modern
Vampires of the City.
The “Vampire Weekend-esque” group ended their performance with a
rendition of “This Land is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie after Bernie’s speech.
You can catch the full rally and various performances on Bernie’s YouTube channel here.
Image: Jim Watson / Getty Images