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

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.

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

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?

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

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

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.

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 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

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"

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!

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

*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!"

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

Excellent!

Great, love this. Live albums rarely do it for me, but with this kind of talent it really works. It’s just a really fun and funky time.

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'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

Wasn't looking forward to this having recently had a couple of overly long jam band live albums that were a chore to sit through, but this one was actually decent

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 ;)

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

Funky! 4.5

I surprised when I see a live album from MSG and don’t know who the band is. On quick research they were the ones with the infamous silent album on Spotify. Enjoyed this record.

again, June 11, 2025 HL: “Animal Spirits”, “Running Away”, “Beastly”, every time Antwuan Stanley sings Anonymous user’s favourite genres according to this website: Jazz, Funk, Soul Also anonymous user: submits a jazzy funk & soul album :0 I am surprised that I’ve had THREE live, jammy albums so far (72 out of 247/possibly infinite albums); however as my own summary page ranks Funk and Soul at the top, it shouldn’t be a surprise that this is my favourite of the 3. It isn’t as adventurous as, say, Phish, but it is very much a crowd-pleasing, joyous affair.

Funky jazz.

A live album from a band that I’m unfamiliar with can be a crapshoot. Not knowing their material, it’s impossible to know what intricacies they change or add to their performance from the album version of the songs. However, from the beginning, I really enjoyed this one. Funky!

Oh well, Vufpeck. As far as live "jam" albums go, I've heard far worse things. As a matter of fact, I think I prefer this one to the Phish record on this list (gratuitously going all over the place without the overall artistry that would fully warrant such unstable endeavors) or the Pigeons Playing Ping Pong thing. Vufpeck's funk performance is tight as hell, and in spite of some underwhelming cuts at the start of the second half, it looks like there are a lot of career highlights in the tracklist. It was interesting listening to the studio versions of those tracks, by the way. Here's the rare example of a jam band who knows how to infuse interesting production values into their studio albums (something Phish isn't really good at in my book). Of course, the downside of that is that you can't help feeling that something gets lost in translation for those live versions--something a fan of the band actually expressed in a review, by the way. But it shouldn't matter, because Vufpeck's live sound remains crisp and dynamic throughout, and for once, the crowd's enthusiasm (and participation in the performance) didn't distract me from the music. Hearing the audience singing "Dean Town"'s bassline was fun as hell, I'l not gonna deny it. Since when do you hear a crowd chanting a damn *bassline*??! Honestly, I also think that mostly staying in one lane here--namely a somewhat hard-sounding funk style--works in favor of the overall cohesiveness of this live album. My favorite cuts are "Animal Spirits", "My First Car", "Tesla", "Smile Meditation" and its wonderful acoustic guitar solo, "Beastly" and "Dean Town". Through them, Vulfpeck provides enough opportunities to make their stellar musicianship shine. Now if I could get my hands on a King Gizzard-level jam band tackling this funk genre so as to serve it with something evocative and imaginative enough -- beyond the band-noodling-on-stage shtick -- I would be head over heels. Unfortunately, not even the adventurous KGATLW have pulled that off in said genre. So I gotta wait for this future masterpiece with this record in my headphones, I guess -- and all in all, it doesn't sound so bad on a general level, as impatient as I am. 3.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums. 8.5/10 for more general purposes: 5 + 3.5. Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ----- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 46 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 57 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 109 (including this one -- but I leave my door open for a studio album, though. The question is: which one?) --- Hey, Émile. J'ai enfin trouvé le temps de répondre ! Regarde sous la review de *Young, Loud And Snotty* des Dead Boys !

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

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.

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

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.

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

There's some flashes of fun & creativity, but mostly it's like if the weather channel didn't have commercials

A lot of live albums on this extra list, this is one of the better ones, really feel the energy in it. Will look into More vulfpack

I suspect it was a lot more fun to attend the gig, than actually listen to the live recording

I totally agree with the person who said this album is like walking in on a group of people who have an in-joke. But it wasn’t a hostile environment, and I enjoyed listening to people have a good time.

Quite funky! Good beats for a pre holiday mindset

I truly believe that Vulfpeck is a great band, but a live album is really bad for identifying it. To me, live recordings (with a few exceptions) are much more for fans and greatest hits collections.

Mr. President, a third extremely long live jam album has hit the user albums list. Never heard of this band before. That bass player is playing like his family's lives are at stake. Not my kind of music, but it was pretty fun.

Pretty fun

Vulfpeck made a nice name for themselves on youtube with their '70s style warm production on both the audio and visual components of their music videos. Given that all four core members are graduates of the music program at the University of Michigan, it seems sort of unsurprising that the band was skilled at their craft. Their work in the early 2010s consisted primarily of instrumental funk EPs with a distinct jazz fusion influence. The other half of the 2010s was marked by full albums with less jams and more actual songs with lyrics and such. Recurring guest musicians would give Vulfpeck a more consistent cast of rotating characters in songs that I can only describe as light and fun. To this end, Vulfpeck is akin to a sitcom. Live At Madison Square Garden is a nice culmination of Vulfpeck's entire discography to that point, digging out of a number of fan favorites (Animal Spirits, Back Pocket, 1612, Birds of a Feather) as well as impressive instrumental jams (Cory Wong, Smile Meditation, Dean Town, surprisingly not Fugue State i love that one) that wraps up the concert with arguably the Vulf thesis statement It Gets Funkier. Truly, Vulfpeck songs do get funkier the more you listen. It's a fun time. Not necessarily the best or most impressive live album, but delivers a non-stop musical train with smiles all around. There's much that holds Vulfpeck back from being taken seriously but I don't think that's been much of a problem if they're playing to a well-attended crowd at MSG. There are much more important and skilled jazz-funk groups with better live albums but this one serves it's own purposes as being a decent showcase of Vulfpeck's work on the whole. If you enjoyed it, great! If not, no big deal. It's only an hour and change of your time. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: No, a spot for Vulfpeck would be better filled by Weather Report, which is already on the list so there you go.

Funk, soul, jazz pop. Es buena música, pero se me ha hecho demasiado larga.

Oh boy, I got sick of the live albums in the main list now they're being suggested? And this one's a double!! :/ It's funky, energetic and relatively fun... but it's live!

Yep, sure seems like a great performance. Sounds like a heck of a lot of fun. Wish I could have seen it. Definitely not sitting here feeling salty that some clown had the audacity to shove the audio on a disc and sell me half an experience. Nope. Not bitter at all. You give me half the show, I give you half the rating. Fair's fair.

This was incredible funky and I am low key impressed how good it sounds live, but it's not my flavour.

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.

Sorry, not for me at all. Very happy jazz funkery with moment of cringe wankery. It was probably great fun being there tanked on cheap beer... bur to me driving home in Birmingham (UK) it kinda doesn't resonate.

I don't know who these guys are. Is this a modern group? Do they have a DMB like following for funk/jazz fusion? Why does this vocalist not fit the band? More "guests" please. Also, I'm starting to resent the submitted list as people just plugging in the longest albums possible.

Hard pass

After a few misfired albums I welcomed the vibe of this. 2019 but it could be 70s? Nothing special or outstanding but still easygoing listening.

The people who like Vulfpeck seem to be having a good time.

I can’t put my finger on it, but it feels disingenuous. It’s feels like talented technique, but lacking the soul or emotion. I wish I could express it better.

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

Wow, another live album suggestion! And 2019 no less!

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.

Live album