Vampire Weekend to launch tour with ‘rare’ eclipse show

Indie rock band Vampire Weekend will launch their latest tour with a special gig in celebration of the total solar eclipse passing through North America today (8 April).

The sold-out alfresco performance at Texas’s Moody Ampitheare will kick off at noon CST, with the 5,000-capacity venue to plunge into darkness for three minutes between 1:35 and 1:38 PM as Austin reaches totality.

Today, the path will cross from Texas and Arkansas up to New York and Maine, along with parts of Mexico and Canada.

The outdoor gig formally kicks off their Only God Was Above Us arena tour, which will see the NYC-based band perform across North America, the UK, and Europe over the next year. Their fifth studio album of the same name was released last Friday.

The show will be streamed for free on Live Nation-owned platform Veeps. Attendees of the live event will receive eclipse glasses.

Several music events are popping up along the path of totality, offering a multi-day experience for the “once-in-a-lifetime” event

Today’s solar showcase — the last North American total eclipse for 20 years — has prompted mass tourism to the totality path, with nearly four million tourists expected to spend up to $1.6 billion, according to Business Insider.

Capitalising on the rare phenomenon, celebratory events have popped up across the country, including travel company Atlas Obscura’s Ecliptic Festival in Arkansas. Taking place through today, the four-day festival in Hot Springs features headliners Deerhoof, Blonde Redhead, Allah-Las, Shannon & The Clams, and Angel Olsen.

In Texas, the Texas Eclipse Festival is offering a “once-in-a-lifetime” experience, with their four-day camping event being headlined by Paul Oakenfold, Big Gigantic, Tycho, and Subtronics, along with hundreds of other performers across six stages.

Yet, nothing will be programmed during the period of totality, with founder Mitch Morales telling Billboard the organisers don’t “need to augment that experience”.

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