Evangeline, Charles Jones and others also joined the band at MSG.
By Andy Kahn Sep 15, 2025 • 2:35 pm PDT
Vulfpeck returned to New York City on Saturday for their first concert at Madison Square Garden since 2019. Legendary drummer Bernard Purdie, who has a long history with the band, was among the special guests participating in the concert at MSG.
Vulfpeck cohorts, vocalists Antwaun Stanley and Jacob Jeffries, guitarist Cory Wong and saxophone player/keyboardist Joey Dosik, were in the mix throughout the show. A four-piece clarinet section augmented the performance.
Charles Jones played keyboards and sang with the band as well. Jones provided lead vocals on John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy” and Vulfpeck’s “Baby I Don’t Know Oh Oh.”
Vulfpeck multi-instrumentalists Jack Stratton and Theo Katzman, bassist Joe Dart and keyboardist Woody Goss once again employed vocalist Evangeline to help sing “Tokyo Night,” like she did at their recent Red Rocks concert.
The evening’s other guest, Bernard “Pretty” Purdie, is among the most credited drummers in modern history, having recorded with Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Steely Dan, King Curtis, B.B. King, Miles Davis, Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Cat Stevens, Hall & Oates and scores of others. The 83-year-old’s relationship with Vulfpeck goes back to 2016 when he played with the group in New York City.
Purdie got behind the drum kit at MSG and started off his sit-in with “My First Car.” Stratton followed by noting that Purdie is one of the rare drummers with a beat named after them.
Purdie then demonstrated his signature “Purdie Shuffle,” which he joked was the basis for over 200 songs he’s played on. After putting on the mini master class in drumming, Purdie and the other musicians shuffled into a cover of Al Green’s “Simply Beautiful,” sung decisively by Stanley.
Katzman, a native of nearby Long Island, was given the opportunity to play “something from Long Island,” and led a cover of Billy Joel’s “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song).” Watch audience-captured video footage of the full Vulfpeck MSG show shared below:
Contrapunctus 1
Big Dipper
Matter of Time
In Real Life
Sauna
Lonely Town
Tender Defender
Memories
1612
Simple Step
3 on E
Tokyo Night
My First Car
Simply Beautiful
Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)
Jealous Guy
Baby I Don’t Know Oh Oh
Can You Tell
LAX
This Is Not the Song I Wrote
New Beastly
Wait for the Moment
Back Pocket
Encore
Dean Town
Welcome to Vulf Records
Setlist data setlist.fm.
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