Live At Madison Square Garden

Ever walk into a conversation mid-joke and you have no idea what's going on? This is how I felt going into this album. I mean, it seems like the crowd was having a great time? This was way too long to hold my attention all the way through, and I am clearly not the target audience of this goofball vibe. But I do think this is some really vibrant, well-played music from a bunch of musicians who clearly sound like they are having a blast. Can't hate on that, no sir. Instrumentals > songs with vocals. Fave Songs: Cory Wong, Smile Meditation, My First Car

Great musicians (especially the bass guitar player) playing decent funk and soul music influenced by Stevie Wonder, The Meters and Booker T). Must be fun to attend a performance. Minus points for being a live double album and including the band introduction as a separate song.

Vulpeck is fun and all, but this is a double live album.

I'm not even sure how I discovered Vulfpeck. I'm sure it was some random video being algorithm'd my way. As such, I have no idea of their relative popularity, or, who their audience is? I'm sure, based on the fact that they packed Madison Square Garden, that they have a huge base. But they've always felt like my little secret, and that's how I like to imagine them. As a UMich grad who used to hang out with music majors, I feel a personal sort of kinship with them. As a Tally Hall superfan, I've always felt like Vulfpeck was sort of their spiritual successors. So, of course, I've heard this performance before. As soon as I saw Vulfpeck come up I knew this would be an insta-5 stars. I want them to be the biggest band in the world, but I also want them to be my little secret.

How have I never heard of this band before? What a revelation.

Always good with some Vulfpeck 5 Damn the Back Pocket worked wonderfully - Goosebumps

Not my sort of music but very talented.

The crowd is very wild in this live album. Amazing atmosphere.

Funk, soul, jazz pop. Me ha gustado. Un 4.

I don't feel like a live album is usually the best introduction to a band - they are (very rightly) playing to their crowd, who are already fully there for it. For the new listener, not yet converted, it can come off as self-indulgent, and this suffered from a fair bit of that for me. As well, the band's general schtick, the "fictional German funk band" name and some of the cuter lyrics, feel a little precious. But I can't fault the energy, the good-hearted spirit, or the musicianship (as a long-ago failure at the clarinet I'll never fail to be impressed by woodwind mastery). Extra point for pulling off credible a-capella harmony from a sold-out M.S.G. crowd. Interested in hearing what the studio work is like.

I'll always give a band from my hometown of Ann Arbor a thumbs up. Not exactly my style of music, but it was very good! I'm sure they would be a lot of fun to see live. 4 stars.

Rating: 8/10 Best songs: Animal spirits, Baby I don’t know oh oh, Funky duck, Back pocket, Christmas in LA

I'm a fan of funky jazz stuff but I could never really get into this band. This live album was fun though. For years I have been listening to a downloaded live version of Dean Town. I had no idea it was from a live album.

Great live set, but this is something more for the established fans rather than something you would use to introduce the band. Personally I would have picked The Beautiful Game (I assume the EPs aren’t eligible) as an entry into the music. That album is also of a more merciful length ;)

I've been familiar with Vulfpeck for a while. I've seen clips of this MSG concert as well (the full thing is available for free on youtube). I think the top comment already covers it completely. This looked really fun to be there live but listening to it far removed from the event I'm like... fine. Still it's funky at times and they are really talented musicians and that shines through. My personal rating: 4/5 My rating relative to the list: 4/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No. Don't think you really need to hear this. Maybe an album from them would work?

It's no Sleepify but it was an entertaining bro funk band.

Funky! 4.5

I've been an on-and-off fan of Vulfpeck for a while, and this was a fun live LP that captured their quirky spirit pretty well while highlighting the best of their discography. Whatever sound engineer recorded this did the band no favors though – the whole thing is entirely too mid-heavy, and Joe Dart's bass (the best part of the band imo) is lost in the mix. It was grating to listen to in a way, but it's a testament to the band's energy that I mostly enjoyed the LP in full despite its poor sound quality.

I appreciate that Vulfpeck can be Sega video game music or Funkadelic or Marvin Gaye or their own mix of all of those things. I’m sure this was a great show but for a me listening experience this was too long

Well perhaps it is deja vu. The great thing about the user generated list is that nothing bad will happen if I don't listen to the whole album before I die. I was therefore able to listen to a bit, skip forward some, and repeat until it became clear that, although these may be talented musicians, a 78 minute live record of improvised funk just isn't my jam (fnar, fnar). Rating: 3 Playlist track: My First Car Date listened: 04/04/25

Ehhhh, not bad but not that interesting. 3/5.

Had a buddy who would play this one a lot. I've had it on a lot in the background, but now sitting down and listening to it, I think I can summarize why it never really stuck with me. The musicians on this thing are insanely talented, but they sound like a group that has studied funk, but does not embody or live the funk. It's very sterile. As if you put P-Funk through a Phish filter. Favorite tracks: "Funky Duck", "Beastly"

Get's a bit samey after a while. But it's very funky

These guys sound like a lot of fun… although everyone in the audience seemed to be more in the know than me.

They're incredible musicians. It's funky as hell. But I can't help the feeling they enjoyed themselves more than I did. Great stage banter though!

Hmmm. Musically, this one is good. But, why a live album? It's an artist I'm not familiar with, and I really don't want my first impression to be crowd work along the lines of "how we doing tonight, Madison Square Garden?" Picking this leads me to believe that it's a band like Grateful Dead that is better live, or doesn't even do studio albums like that. If so, fine, otherwise, this is weird to make us listen to. That said, there's a lot of talent in this group, I can hear that. I just wish it wasn't live.

A lot of fun. Has great energy and easily approachable soul and funk that had me in the groove. Not every piece works for me, but enough to make it an enjoyable listen.

Real nice.

Very student-band sounding - technically proficient and well-rehearsed, but without the looseness that comes from having 20+ years experience of playing live. I'm still not sure live albums have a place on the list, since they're not *really* an album, but everyone else seems less bothered! Sounds like a fun show, and a band I will explore more fully if/when I get time. Also, reading the wiki page reminded me I had heard the name before, but for a cool and creative stunt and without listening to the album in question.

Sounds like a fun time

Damn, this was actually quite disappointing. I think Vulfpeck are incredibly talented and incredibly fun, but this was not the best showcase of their talents. Some of the songs sounded a bit disjointed and the mixing was quite echoey and not very precise throughout, and the vocals were really lacking. Even though their last couple of albums haven’t made as much of an impression on me, I’d much rather listen to one of their studio albums like The Beautiful Game or Mr Finish Line. Just a slightly underwhelming live album from a band I imagine would be super super fun to see live

Never heard of this band before but I was surprised yet not shocked they were from Ann Arbor. Does every band that originates in AA have to have some sort of quirky off the wall quality? This album was alright. I don’t love live albums and part of it is some songs are really hard to play live. Their instrumentals are good but after I listened to some of their studio recorded music there is a big difference between that and the live sounds. Overall it was fine. If I were to listen to this band again it wouldn’t be from the live album. 5.6/10

At the beginning it has a hint of a seventies rhythm with Caribbean rhythms that I even thought was not modern. For a live performance it must have been very lively and energizing, I liked the percussion, but then it became very "Stevie Wonder" with jazz, trumpets everywhere and so on, which frankly seemed to me "a smoothie that I didn't like enough." 2.5 stars

Well, these guys are talented. But that is no excuse for a live album. Nobody needs to hear the audience. The music is funky, and I'm glad I've been introduced to Vulfpeck. I look forward to listening to their studio-produced stuff that doesn't have the chore of the crowd noises or the audience interaction. A lot of these tracks sound like the opening themes to early 90s sitcoms. You can easily imagine (despite the audience noises) this playing over montage shots of Greg Evigan and Paul Reiser.

This was just a phish live album but with funk instead of rock.

Christ almighty..... no. Just no. Not for me. Will never be for me.

*snaps fingers, points in a soldierly manner* "I want archers with fiery arrows perched there, there, and there. Second level. Covering all exits. No one escapes... Fire at will!"

The formulaic, expected bass songs are familiar, warm, groovy, and good. My first car is quite entertaining. I think there are three words in it? Is Ugh a word? It must be miscredited, because the studio version has more lyrics than this. And Tesla is an entertaining song with all the horns. As entertaining as it is, it's a live album, which, with exceedingly rare situations, is provided with a standard score.