bböp

13 minutes ago, Chez said:

 

My wife and I still laugh about the crowd-surfing "incident."  She claims I tried to steal Jeff's wallet from his jeans as I was passing him back.  I deny that.   I believe they played "Something In The Air" (by Thunderclap Newman) that night - which was fantastic.

My friends and I actually ran into Jeff and Susie after the show that night getting in their car across the street from the Vic. This was well after the show; we had gone to grab something to eat, I think. Anyway, I didn’t know them nearly as well as I do now (not that I know them that well), but I remember not being able to believe that they were just getting in their car to drive home after what we had just witnessed a few hours earlier — and for the previous three nights.

Anyway, I think we just expressed sympathy at all the technical problems and told him we had still had fun anyway and let them get on their way. He seemed like he appreciated that. Good times with some good pals. Hard to believe it’s been more than 20 years ago now.

1 hour ago, Beastsbelly said:

 

The two ladies were two-thirds of the back up singers from Dr. Dog, Becca and Dulci.

 

I feel for Jeff's tech.  He had a rough go of it all weekend...forgot to leave out the SG for the back half of Handshake Drugs, causing Jeff to look in his direction with some desperation as they were approaching his electric portion of the tune. Brought out an acoustic for (I think) Either Way, which Jeff wanted to replace, followed by the replacement being in the wrong tuning. Here's to better days ahead.

 

Thanks for all of the recaps.  Night 1 was my favorite overall (Magazine and Candyfloss in the same set? Yes, please!), Night 2 had the best encore, and Night 3 will always be known (to me, at least) as the night when Cortez the Killer melted faces.

Oh, thanks for the ID help with the Dr. Dog singers. I missed their set unfortunately (or rather, retreated from the loudness of it) so I missed them. Good to know who they were. I’ll correct my post above.

And yeah, glad you noticed that problem with Handshake too. I wasn’t sure he was gonna make it out with that electric in time.

Night 1 was overall my favorite, too. Just the bonkers start and debuting Shakin’ Sugar…it was very unpredictable. Thanks for reading.

1 hour ago, Chez said:

Thanks for the excellent recaps, Paul.  Reading them gave me a touch of regret.  I attended the first one (had a great time) and had tickets for the second one but got COVID and couldn't go.  I've boycotted SBS ever since over the way the sponsor handled refunds for #2 (i.e. "no refunds") and now I think I've aged out of festivals.  I hope all who attended had fun - the line-up was stellar.    

Yeah, I’ve got a couple friends who also have boycotted SBS because of the way Cloud 9 handled the 2022 event so I get it (looking at you,  @Sandoz). It’s not everybody’s thing anyway, so again, you have to make that decision. But it is nice that the band makes an effort at pulling out some rarities and does stuff like no repeats, etc., for their shows there.
 

1 hour ago, Albert Tatlock said:

When US football started being shown in the UK I remember there was The Fridge (wonder what happened to him) and I was a fan of John Elway. But the novelty wore off and rugby is in my DNÁ.

Ta(co)

Is there a rugby version of The Super Bowl Shuffle, though? #notheretofeathersruffle

27 minutes ago, theashtraysays said:

egad dude.  

wot, not a fan of alliteration? 

13 hours ago, nalafej said:

Fun idea. Good choice since the length of that show is short enough to then go on and play other songs. Should we start asking them to recreate 5/7/05 (the extended/technical issues show at the Vic and final evening of the Kicking Television live set run)??!

Only if Jeff truly committed to the bit and crowdsurfed again. Been waiting 20 years for that to happen again. Never has. 

Complete setlist, as played:

1. One Tiny Flower

2. Caught Up In The Past

3. Flowering

4. New Orleans

5. Forever Never Ends

6. This Is How It Ends

7. Low Key

8. World Away

9. Mirror

10. Stray Cats In Spain

11. Out In The Dark

12. Cry Baby Cry

13. Diamond Light, Pt. 1

14. No One’s Moving On

15. Feel Free

16. Lou Reed Was My Babysitter

17. Mexico [Sammy Tweedy]

18. Enough

Number of Twilight Override songs played (out of 30): 13.

“Special” song(s): This was the surprise of the set when Jeff announced that a) there would indeed be a “special” song for this show (since it was a shorter festival set without an encore, which is when the “special” song(s) usually come); and b) it would be a song written by Sammy. Appropriately enough, the probable first single off Sammy’s completed debut solo album, About Us, is called Mexico and so it made perfect sense that it would be performed here. Although I’ve heard the album version a couple of times and even seen Sammy and Spencer play it live, it was nice to hear it with the backing of the full Tweedy band as well as on the big PA system of the Sky Blue Sky main stage. The lyric “Thought you should know/there’s a lot of snow/blocking the roads/back home in Chicago” drew a particularly hearty cheer from the crowd, including yours truly.

Support report: None. In fact, this was a rare occasion when the Tweedy band was actually supporting someone else. Well, technically, it was a festival so they weren’t really supporting anyone, though Jeff said it was “such a thrill to get to play on this stage, opening for MJ (Lenderman And The Wind) and Dr. Dog.”

Venue vibes: As Jeff alluded to, this was finally the year that the Tweedy band got to perform on Sky Blue Sky’s main courtyard stage after playing the festival’s two smaller stages in previous years. However, I’m pretty sure only Sammy was actually making his main-stage debut since the five other band members had all performed on this stage before — Jeff obviously with Wilco, Spencer on drums with Waxahatchee earlier in the festival and Sima, Macie and Liam as part of the three-headed “Young Jorgenstein” monster that capably filled in with Wilco when Mikael Jorgensen tested positive for COVID prior to the 2022 edition of Sky Blue Sky and couldn’t attend.

Bits of tid, including Banter Corner:

• I don’t even know why I’m writing this recap since Susie live streamed the entire set on her stuffinourhouse Instagram account, where you can watch it for yourself. But in any case, I guess I shall proceed because, well, I guess not everyone has social media (gasp!) or a few intrepid souls would rather listen to me prattle on for a few more minutes.

• The Tweedy band performance was scheduled for 75 minutes, from 6:30-7:45 p.m., but as the clock wound down on the 18-song set with two still left to play, Jeff realized they might go a little over time. “I’m really sorry (we might go a little late),” Jeff said, “but…we really, really want to play these two songs, so I’ll make it up to MJ. I’ll help him change the stage over.”

• It probably had to do with the rush at the end of the set and I’m sure literally no one but me noticed, but Jeff had a very insignificant flub in Enough when he sang the “Is your heart hiding/From your fire?” line twice. The first time through, of course, the chorus goes “Is your heart higher/Than your mind?” Normally I probably wouldn’t even mention it, but since Susie’s video was available for me to double check and I noted it in the moment, I’m making one tiny, uh, note of it here.

• Jeff’s best one-liner of a set that was admittedly short on visits to Banter Corner probably came just before Out In The Dark when he quipped, “All right, we’ve got a few more. We’d really like to thank Wilco for inviting us.”

• Of the few non-Twilight Override songs that have become a regular part of the TO tour setlist, World Away has probably morphed the most in terms of how this lineup plays it and I was once again reminded of this when Sima, Macie and Liam take over the vocals in the second half of the song so that Jeff can focus on the lead guitar shredding and then today it seemed like the band added a newish coda where they all get in a nice little collective jam before bringing the song home.

• Though several “slower” songs were part of this festival set, I did notice that once again Ain’t It A Shame failed to make the cut with its lyric about wanting to “die on the beach in the sun.” It reminded me of the last (I think?) SBS when the Tweedy band was actually performing on the “beach stage,” and Jeff joked about how he had wanted to play that song, maybe even start the set with it, but Spencer and Sammy talked him out of it.

19 hours ago, Albert Tatlock said:

Firstly, a delayed ‘ta’ due to a long day trip back to the Motherland to watch Cardiff v Racing 92 (from Paris) in the Euro Challenge Cup. A great game/result and atmosphere at the Queen of rugby venues Cardiff Arms Park. I do miss the people of Cardiff, much nicer than Londoners.

Secondly to get back on point. The Monkees were a core influence. Summer holiday weekday morning BBC schedules throughout the late 60s to mid 70s consisted of cycling repeats of:-

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0qgUfvBw_FM 

“The Crab With The Golden Claws” is still my go to quote in Herge’s Adventures style for any announcement of dramatic import.

Followed by a cheap black and white import, either:-

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GeuW47Nt_OI 

 

White Horses a dubbed Yugoslav series set on the stud farm for Lipizzanner horses (as in the Hapsburg’s Vienna Riding School) in Slovenia. Whilst the show was not my favourite, the theme tune certainly is one of the definitive 60s sounds for me and was a hit in the UK. In my head it just evokes sunny goodness all round. Others agree as it still ranks highly in ‘best theme tunes’ polls. One of the most surreal experiences of my life was visiting said farm in Slovenia a few years ago and walking around the farm yard. Just seemed completely inconceivable that I could be there. Strangely the locals did not remember anything about the filming but did have stories about persuading Italian border guards to let them sneak over the border to visit nearby Trieste. Lithe limbed Eastern European girls and fluttering eyelids were involved.

Or:-

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RNsV1BUb9mc 

One if the most iconic TV shows of all time for my generation with an absolutely stupendous soundtrack (all the incidental music not just the theme and which which I own on CD) as also attested to by Jarvis Cocker who chose the theme as one of his Desert Island discs. Also dubbed from German/French co-production.

Or:-

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Sb9AoirSU 

Dubbed French top notch adventure.

Or for an altogether more plaintive feel:-

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wc_09iQ4l5k 

Inspiration for the eponymous group.

Or Casey Jones or Champion The Wonder Horse, which you will know. Big fan of Fireman Wally here.

Then finally an episode of The Monkees or The Banana Splits, which both just seemed like an explosion of colour and anarchy to drab British kids. 

All followed by a 5 hour football or cricket game. Good times.

OK, walk down memory lane complete (no doubt triggered by Cardiff visit). Please carry on.

 

 

 

 

Wow, that was…something. I think maybe I understand a bit better now from whence the Tatlock emerged…

All talk and no play makes Jeffy a dull boy? OK, I admit that’s just a pithy comment that came to mind when I was trying to think of a way to start writing about tonight’s fourth and final show of Jeff’s annual run of solo performances at Largo. But maybe there is a little something to it when looking at what set this, uh, set apart from the others we have been treated to this week.

For one thing, we got more songs played (22) than on any of the previous nights. Of course that could be attributed, at least in part, to the absence of any of the longer songs in Jeff’s catalog — no Feel Free or One Sunday Morning, to cite two examples — but also probably because Jeff paid less visits to Banter Corner. He must have been at least sensing that, since about halfway through the show, he expressed as much. “I feel like I’m gonna get in trouble for not talking enough tonight,” Jeff said. “Have I talked enough, Susie?” It would be one of several occasions when he addressed his wife directly, and each time she responded quickly and concisely. “Yes,” she replied, but at least one other person seemed to indicate the opposite, which led Jeff to decide that he was getting “conflicting” signals and conclude, “All right, who gives a shit then?”

I suppose we were fortunate that Jeff gave a proverbial shit about putting on one more entertaining show despite admitting early on that he was “really down to the bottom of the barrel” in terms of songs he thought he could play. He said Susie had suggested he could simply repeat the second night because she thought that had been a good show and he showed a copy of the setlist from Night 2 before saying he really didn’t want to do that. “Is that OK, Susie?” he asked her. “Yeah,” came the response. Said Jeff, apparently detecting something in his wife’s tone, “Now I have to do it. All right then, here’s Night 2…” He proceeded to play the first two songs from that show, Don’t Forget and Having Been Is No Way To Be, with a little smile before the latter as if to say, “I can’t believe I’m actually doing this.” But before continuing further with the Night 2 program, Jeff finally relented and changed things up, though he did look at the printed setlist from the other night and quip, “Oh, there was a good one next. Oh, well.” (It was Sign Of Life, from Twilight Override.)

Not that the previous three shows were all talk and no play, nor this show no talk and all play — and I mean play as in playing music ­— but perhaps there was just slightly more of the playing and less of the talking on Night 4. That really started to manifest when Jeff finally picked up the 12-string guitar that had been tantalizingly leaning against his side table all week but had never been used. It had been a bit of a running joke, in fact, with Jeff calling it “Chekhov’s guitar” (a reference to the Russian playwright’s advice about how a gun should be used if it appears on stage). When Jeff finally picked up the 12-string, there was a murmur in the audience and some audible “oohs,” a reaction which he said made him not want to use it. But he gave in and gave the people what they wanted for a couple of songs, finally playing Twilight Override opening track One Tiny Flower as well as Country Song Upside-Down. Afterward, he joked that it was “the last time I’m gonna allow people’s opinions about guitars to affect my playing.”

From there, we got a couple of oldies in Radio King and New Madrid. After playing the former, Jeff said he had a memory that had also come up the previous night when he told a funny story about having once shared an apartment with his two bandmates in Uncle Tupelo and how they had been unable to divide the place’s $80 monthly rent by three so they got a roommate. That, of course, led perfectly into New Madrid. And one song later, we finally got the lone Summerteeth cut of the four-night stand with a plaintive arrangement of I’m Always In Love — sort of akin to the way Wilco had reworked the song starting last summer — that still left room for some of the braver audience members to contribute a few '“ooh oohs” at the end and bring a smile to Jeff’s face.

I will say that one thing about the Largo shows, especially in recent years, that I miss a little bit is they haven’t been quite as singalong-y. Part of that is just the intimate nature of the room — it really is a listening room, and I think that’s why Jeff and so many other performers enjoy playing there — and perhaps also a little bit to do with Jeff’s audience getting a bit older and maybe maturing out of the crowd participation thing a bit. Who knows? I just know that I attended a couple of Jon Brion shows before Jeff started this run and there were a couple of singalongs at those, so it can be done in that room. I realize this is a controversial subject and a lot of (most?) people are of the opinion that singing along at a show like Jeff’s isn’t cool. But personally, I just think it can be done in a respectful and fun way.

One final opportunity for a little bit of crowd participation, of course, came during the show-closing Lou Reed Was My Babysitter, which Jeff said would have been the encore if there had been one. Instead, it simply concluded a nice set of songs on which Jeff was joined as usual by Spencer and Sammy on backing vocals. Jeff prefaced the song by sharing that someone had asked him earlier in the day if Reed really had been his babysitter, and Jeff went on a hilarious little tangent imagining a scenario in which his parents in Belleville, Ill., actually had been able to contact Reed in New York City, put him on a plane and have him come over and look after their kid just so they could go out for the evening. “Yeah, and (infamous punk rocker) GG Allin was my tutor and (Plasmatics frontwoman) Wendy O. Williams was my wet nurse,” Jeff joked, crediting Spencer for that joke. In addition to that bit, Jeff also introduced LRWMB by calling it “our theme song” before imagining an alternate theme for the Tweedy trio: “Here we come/Walkin’ down the street…,” Jeff sang, finishing with the inevitable “Hey, hey, we’re the Tweedys…” The homage to The Monkees no doubt put a smile on the faces of some audience members old enough to remember that classic TV show.

Anyway, when it came time for the requisite “whoos” and “rrrauws” in LRWMB, Jeff gave the Largo crowd an opportunity to redeem itself after a rather lame attempt at participation the previous night. It took a few tries, with some coming in a little late the first time and then early the second, but finally it seemed like everyone nailed it. “Give yourselves a round of applause,” Jeff urged, then immediately followed up by jokingly saying, “Don’t get too full of yourselves.” If there was ever a more fitting summation of Jeff’s outlook on things, I can’t really think of one.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a couple of the other songs the trio of Tweedys performed together, which were almost exclusively drawn from Twilight Override. To start, they tackled what I heard was a request for Over My Head (Everything Goes) — the first time that song has been played live — and then later treated us to a rare performance of Too Real. Jeff introduced the latter with a touching anecdote about the song being written in the wake of his hip replacement surgery when “I was on narcotics for the first time in 20 years” and how that was great because it relieved his pain but “also terrifying…to deal with losing my sobriety.” Sammy also added a poignant bit of harmonica on Too Real, and if you had bet me at the start of the run that Sammy would play harmonica at some point and Jeff wouldn’t, well, I probably would’ve taken that wager.

By my count, 23 of the 30 Twilight Override songs got played over the course of the four nights at Largo (and of those seven that didn’t, two have yet to be performed live at all). For those of us lucky enough to attend all four shows, of which there seemed like more than a few, we got a really good sense of the triple album. And in a unique way, too, with the trio arrangements differing in some ways from the full band versions. So I felt especially fortunate to be able to make it this year, and with some good friends no less. I don’t want to be presumptuous and say, “See you next year,” but since Jeff basically did tonight, I guess it’s OK.

Here was the complete setlist, as played, for Night 4 of Largo 2026:

1. Story To Tell

2. Don’t Forget

3. Having Been Is No Way To Be

4. Some Birds

5. I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

6. One Tiny Flower

7. Country Song Upside-Down

8. Radio King

9. New Madrid

10. Love Is For Love

11. I’m Always In Love

12. Dawned On Me

13. Over My Head (Everything Goes) (w/Spencer and Sammy Tweedy on backing vocals) (live debut)

14. Forever Never Ends (w/Spencer and Sammy)

15. Amar Bharati (w/Spencer and Sammy)

16. Evergreen (w/Spencer and Sammy)

17. Mirror (w/Spencer and Sammy)

18. Stray Cats In Spain (w/Spencer and Sammy)

19. Too Real (w/Spencer and Sammy [harmonica])

20. New Orleans (w/Spencer and Sammy)

21. Enough (w/Spencer and Sammy)

22. Lou Reed Was My Babysitter (w/Spencer and Sammy)

4 hours ago, Albert Tatlock said:

As an aspiring Bbop minion, I hope his Supreme Majesty will delight in this entry made on his behalf - faithfully pasted from https://paulsuwan.substack.com/p/jeff-tweedy-7-january-2026-largo

 

Any formatting mess-ups are mine. If his Holiness doesn't want potential future interference (no guarantees I will do it again mind after VC had another wobble) then please shout.

 

And lo it came to pass that Bbop spake unto the VC community:-

Is this what AI Tatlock looks like? And if so, what is AI Tatlock’s general disposition? Better than that Hal, I hope…

Just now, Albert Tatlock said:

I think you need an intern.

Believe it or not, I do have a couple of minions. 

9 hours ago, Albert Tatlock said:

Another nice one. A two cuppa morning. Ta.

 

I'm a-talkin' 'bout the inane rambler
Everybody got to read
Well I'm a-talkin' 'bout the keyboard gambler
The one you spied in vids before
I'm readin' down the post so sadly
A-listen and you'll hear me groan
Well I'm a talkin' 'bout those US spellings
That stuff has really got to go
(Yeah c'mon)

 

Talkin' 'bout the inane rambler
The one you spied in vids before
I'm talkin' 'bout the grammar mangler
Did you see him not drop a 'u' at all
He don't give Jeff a hoot of warning
A-picking up those lyric woes
Flubs all in black and white next morning
As I split my time 'tween tea and prose

I'm tellin' 'bout the inane rambler
Documenting every rock 'n' roll show
Well, I'm a-talkin' 'bout the Tweedy news scrambler
For everyone who didn't get to go
Oh, didn't go

 

Well, you heard about the Boston Global
He's freelance, he's not one of those
Talkin' 'bout VC's lead typist, shit!
Did you see him rush the gig queue door
He's called the setlist pedant, in anger
Or just a pencil sharpened, jotting Joe
Or just a note it all, banter recordist
But everybody really want to know

 

If you ever meet the inane rambler
As he's prowlin' round your concert hall
As he's movin' like a humble hack shambler
You should say, I told you so
If you lookout for the posted ramblings
Read them easy, easy, as you go
Or he'll smash up all your deluxe box sets
Put his fist through your bootleg store

 

Well I'm a-talkin' bout the inane rambler
The one you spied in vids before
Well I'm a-talkin' bout the keyboard gambler
D'you see him snatch a setlist off the floor
And if you ever catch the inane rambler
Steal your front row spot from under your nose
Go easy with your self entitled anger
He'll stick his pen right down your throat baby, and it hurts

 

(Three cups after my self imposed little writing exercise)

Wow, I am hono(u)red...I think? At the very least something to marvel at over my morning cuppa...

9 hours ago, Albert Tatlock said:

Ta. Will keep SubStack in mind as a back-up option for future tea break VC outage crises. I wonder if you're going to retrospectively copy/paste all you old reports there to make it a full archive back-up. That would really be a Wilco MVP labour of love.

Have given it some thought. Not exactly sure what would be the best way to do that, though, without turning everything into a bit of a disorganized mess over there. Perhaps an "Old Post Of The Week" type of thing or something, but am open to other ideas.

12 hours ago, Brian F. said:

I'm not sure why you're so sensitive about this. You do a great job with these writeups (including this one, as I said, and thanked you for it), and they are very appreciated. My sense is that you are careful to get things right, and these posts serve as an important archive of Wilco's/Tweedy's career, so that's why I mentioned these two small things. It doesn't "make me happy" to do so. If I wrote something and made a similar mistake, I would want someone to bring it to my attention. That's all there is to it. As someone near and dear to you once weirdly said, "It's not a competition." There's no need to bang your head against a brick wall over it.

Oh, believe me...I'm not trying to compete with anyone. If anyone else wants to post a recap, whether I'm at the show or not, I'm more than happy to hear their take on things. I'm not trying to get anything out of these posts, nor asking for anything in return (other than that I hope at least a few people read and get something out of them). So thanks for the kind words on that front.

With respect to the Los Angeles/WeHo thing, it's not sensitivity (as you labeled it). I guess I'm just amused and/or curious as to why this continues to be something you seem so invested in. A hill you're going to die on, if you will. Can we just agree that while Largo might technically be in Los Angeles (and I acknowledge that it is), it's also extremely close to West Hollywood and that's the neighborhood that people would use to describe where it is generally located? Or if we can't agree on that, I guess we can at least join forces try and defeat our common nemesis, I'll Fight Guy. 

2 hours ago, Brian F. said:

Great recap, bbop. Two small quibbles: Largo is, as I think we've discussed before, in Los Angeles, not West Hollywood. (It's really, really close to West Hollywood, but it is beyond its city limits.) And Jeff's first run of Largo shows was in December 2013, not 2017.

Brian, Brian, Brian...haven't we been down this road before lol? I put Los Angeles in the title of the post, but I will still always think of Largo as being in West Hollywood even if it technically isn't. I will note, though, that I parked a block away the other day and there were City of West Hollywood sawhorses (or whatever those things are) next to my car, so aren't we being a bit pedantic here? If it makes you happy, though, please continue. You're a lawyer, aren't you? If so, [insert lawyer joke here]. 

Thank you for the correction on 2013 versus 2017, though. I appreciate it. I was trying to get at when Jeff started doing annual runs of shows at Largo, which I think may have been in 2017. He did start to play at Largo in 2013, as you correctly stated (and I corrected in my earlier post). Although technically, if we're being pedantic, I believe Jeff's first appearance at Largo was actually in 2012 when he appeared with Jeff Garlin for a taping of a podcast. I can't remember why he didn't play at Largo from 2013-2016, if there even was any particular reason, but anyway...

New year, new me? Don’t count on it, at least as far as these show recap thingies go. Though I slacked a bit in the latter part of 2025, I shall endeavo(u)r to do better moving forward as we enter what promises to be another busy year of Wilco/Jeff activity with both Sky Blue Sky and Solid Sound festivals returning as well as a steady dose of Twilight Override dates already on the calendar and what seems to be some Wilco shows lining up in the second half of the year.

The one new thing, I suppose, is me grudgingly trying to move into the modern world of publishing by posting this on my own Substack — first post, woo hoo! — in addition to Via Chicago. I actually did this a long time ago when I briefly cross posted to a blog I started, but sort of abandoned that after a while. I can’t remember why. But after mentioning it to a couple of pals/regular readers, I figure it’s worth doing, if only to hedge my bets against the inevitable(?) downfall of VC (and maybe Internet message boards in general, though I hope that doesn’t happen anytime soon). But I have noticed that VC has had more outages recently than it ever has — in fact, it seems to be down right now — and who knows what the future holds. Does anyone need another Substack? Probably not, and I don’t plan on trying to monetize or even really publicize this one for the time being. It just seems like a thing to do, so I guess I will. Feel free to subscribe, read, comment…or whatever.

It was nice to be back in West Hollywood, WeHo in the local parlance, for the start of Jeff’s annual run of shows at the beloved Largo at the Coronet. I haven’t missed too many of them since Jeff started playing there in 2017 in 2013, but I had to sit out last year’s edition (because they conflicted with Hanukkah and I was already committed to attending Yo La Tengo’s annual Hanukkah run of shows in New York and couldn’t change my plans, blah, blah, blah). But when this year’s batch of shows got announced, the timing was great for me and so I’m happy to be in that room again this week.

As was Jeff. At least he said so on Night 1 of this year’s four-night stand, despite just “getting over kind of a nasty cold.” He added, “I’m not making any excuses for the show having low energy or anything. I’m really excited to be here. I look forward to these shows so much.” This came about halfway through his 18-song, 77-minute set, just before he played Evicted. On that song, he struggled a bit with its signature guitar line and explained afterward that he was trying to add a little more to it than the way he plays it with Wilco and it didn’t quite come together the way he wanted. “I’ve been practicing, I really have,” Jeff said.

From my seat, I guess, that was one of the most surprising — or at least unexpected — aspects of tonight’s show. Since Twilight Override came out in October, I had gotten so used to hearing those songs that I almost forgot what it was like hearing Jeff play Wilco songs solo acoustic. For instance, I certainly didn’t expect that his second song of the show would be Side With The Seeds, which he introduced by saying, “I don’t think I’ve done this song acoustically…for people.” He had a bit of a false start with it when he began to sing it in the higher register he normally uses when he sings it with the band, but pretty quickly he decided that wouldn’t work, so he restarted and declared, “I’m gonna sing it low.” It was not exactly a perfect rendition of the song since Jeff had a couple of lyric flubs and wound up omitting one of its key lines — “I’ll side with you/If you side with me” (which he explained in part by saying, “I don’t feel that way anymore.”)

That comment wasn’t uttered as seriously, perhaps, as I’m making it sound, though Jeff did seem to have a bit of world weariness about him in the wake of the recent news about the U.S. invasion of Venezuela. “Happy New War,” he deadpanned as part of a little flurry of banter after his first song of the night. That first song was This Is How It Ends, and immediately after, Jeff joked, “Get it? Because that was the first song. That’s it. That’s the only bit I’ve got.” He did add a joke about getting his period early, a callback to something comedian Emily Catalano said during her opening set.

As usual, there are just way too many little things (quips, audience interactions, etc.) during these Largo shows to fully recount them all. Some of what Jeff utters are versions of things he has previously said at other shows. Some things, frankly, you kind of just have to be there. And then sometimes you’re left shaking your head.

Allow me to try and trace the arc of one such visit to Banter Corner. After a delightful performance of Western Clear Skies, which kind of has a nebulous ending, Jeff remarked that a number of his songs conclude that way and there is just enough time between the end of a song like that and the start of an audience’s applause “for me to shit my pants,” which is something he has said before. (I guess one of his fears is that he will play a song and no one will clap, or something?) Anyway, Jeff clarified he didn’t mean he was literally shitting his pants. But from there, he went on a tangent about how, if you knew someone whose car was stuck in the mud and you were trying to help them, you would have to rock it back and forth to try and get it out. “I have poop like that,” Jeff declared, before realizing he had maybe gone a bit too far. “I’m sorry. Thank you, good night.” Then he apologized to Susie out the audience. “I’m sorry, Susie,” he said with a bit of a sheepish look on his face. She shot back, “You should be.” It was all highly amusing, if a bit cringe-inducing.

Jeff would then go onto talk about how his “inner dialogue” was telling him that the next song had “better be really good.” “What’s a song everybody likes?” he said. “I really don’t know.” That transitioned into an anecdote he has frequently discussed about how every night on the song request form on Wilco’s Web site, each song receives exactly one vote so he never can get a consensus on what songs most people want to hear.

One song that almost always gets requested at Largo, as you might expect, is California Stars. And Jeff often hesitates and questions whether anyone really wants to hear him play that song yet again. He mentioned to the woman who requested it that there are a thousand versions of him playing it on the Internet, so he opted for something else. But true to form, after initially pooh-pooing (ahem) her request, Jeff came out — with Spencer and Sammy on backing vocals — at the start of the encore and sang it. Well, kind of. Whether it was intentional or not, the Tweedy trio sang the verses once but not the second time. “That’s a compromise,” Jeff said afterward. “I just figured it out. That song (repeats twice), so I’m just gonna play half of it.” (Jeff then told a funny semi-related story about Wilco once playing a show in Norway where he and his bandmates were tired of playing Box Full Of Letters so they decided to do a waltz version of it. A few songs later, a Norse gentleman yelled out for Box again. Jeff told him they had just played it. “Yes, but my box is only half full,” the guy apparently replied.)

Another humorous moment that happened — maybe you just had to be there, but I’ll try to recount it anyway — was during the flurry of requests toward the end of the main set when a particularly vocal plea for The Ruling Class came from somewhere toward the middle or back of the theater from two male voices that were remarkably in unison. “Did you guys sync your request?” Jeff asked. Once again in unison came the reply: “Yes.” Jeff granted the request, but not before likening the requesters to the Sklar Brothers (identical twin brother comedians). Perhaps the most amusing aspect of this was during the final song of the show, Lou Reed Was My Babysitter, when after Jeff suggested to the audience they could try “whoo-ing” at the appropriate point in the song, he asked to hear it once from just the twin requesters. Unfortunately they dropped the ball on this occasion, even after Jeff gave them another chance. Oh well, better luck next time.

Jeff did preface LRWMB by saying he thought Largo might have been the first room in which he publicly played that song (it was, on Feb. 26, 2022) and how it was the only song he played multiple times during Largo runs when he was otherwise not repeating any songs because “I feel like it belongs to this room.” When it comes to this current Largo run, however, Jeff made it a point to declare that these shows would not be the “no repeats” variety. After asking how many people would be attending all four shows this time around and receiving a smattering of applause in response, Jeff deadpanned, “That’s not enough to deny people (coming other nights) the bangers.”

I’m not sure the Twilight Override deep cut Wedding Cake qualifies as one of those bangers, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that we got the live debut of that song tonight. Jeff mentioned how it came from an album with 30 songs and how some might be thinking that album would have been better with 29 songs on it. “But that song serves a purpose, whether you like it or not,” Jeff said, without further elaborating. Here’s hoping we get at least one more live debut during this Largo run. Blank Baby or Secret Door, anyone?

Here was the complete setlist, as played, for Night 1 at Largo 2026:

1. This Is How It Ends

2. Side With The Seeds

3. Caught Up In The Past

4. Parking Lot

5. Laminated Cat (aka Not For The Season)

6. Sky Blue Sky

7. Please Tell My Brother

8. One By One

9. Western Clear Skies

10. Impossible Germany

11. Evicted

12. Handshake Drugs

13. Wedding Cake (live debut)

14. The Ruling Class

15. I’m The Man Who Loves You

    ---

    Encore:

16. California Stars (w/Spencer and Sammy Tweedy on backing vocals)

17. Stray Cats In Spain (w/Spencer and Sammy Tweedy on backing vocals)

18. Lou Reed Was My Babysitter (w/Spencer and Sammy Tweedy on backing vocals)

With Jeff back in New York City for the second time this month, this time performing with Spencer and Sammy at one of Yo La Tengo's annual Hannukah shows, there were some murmurs that it wouldn't be Jeff's only show while in town. I had heard some rumblings that he would be playing a set at an intimate venue on this day, but it was unclear whether it was a private charity event of some kind, a public "secret show" type of thing or something else entirely.

As it turned out, it was a session for the local radio station WFUV that was being recorded for a future podcast. And thanks to some good fortune, I was able to get down to the Bitter End — a legendary venue on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village — for the hour-long episode.

Obviously, the event (which was apparently mostly attended by WFUV donors and/or members) focused on Twilight Override. Jeff played several songs in an extremely stripped down format with sons Spencer and Sammy — neither of whom played any instruments but simply contributed backing vocals — and was also interviewed by WFUV’s Alisa Ali. I have a hard time estimating the size of audiences, but there were probably about 100 or 125 people in all.

Of particular note/humor during the interview portions (only Jeff was actually interviewed, while Spencer and Sammy sat off to the side of the stage):

-Ali asked Jeff about future projects, mentioning the recent Golden Smog shows and then inquiring about Wilco. Jeff said Wilco would be getting back into the studio this year, saying the band had set aside some studio time in May. As for future Golden Smog shows, Jeff demurred, saying that “I’m not in charge of them…sometimes I get asked (to perform with them), sometimes I don’t.”

-About a typical Tweedy holiday celebration, Jeff said the family was Jewish but “we celebrate everything.” He mentioned how Susie loves Christmas decorations and also noted that both of his sons have December birthdays. “I must have been home a lot in the spring,” Jeff deadpanned, while Susie, sitting within eyeshot, just shook her head.

-Asked about fans being invited to submit their own verses to Feel Free, Jeff said that Wilco HQ has received somewhere in the range of “6,000 or 8,000” submissions thus far. “I don’t want to discourage anyone from sending them in,” Jeff said, half jokingly, “but a lot of them aren’t good.”

-Jeff only had two acoustic guitars on stage with him, and he was asked whether he felt weird about having so few instruments when he is known for always having so many at any given show. “I feel liberated,” he said. “It’s kinda hard having so many guitars.” To which some in the crowd, probably led by Susie, gave a decidedly sarcastic “Aw…” Jeff responded, half jokingly, “You guys can just all go straight to hell.”

-Jeff strongly believes you don’t have to pick either The Beatles or The Rolling Stones, but he did have a quip about knowing people who actually don’t like The Beatles and it being “a doorway to Satan’s eye” or something to that effect.

There were a number of other questions more focused on Twilight Override, many of which Jeff has answered similarly in other interviews, such as the origin story of the album having been listening to The Clash’s triple album Sandinista on a road trip with Spencer and Sammy and whether Jeff really had puked after a high school dance. Regarding the latter, which concerns the song Forever Never Ends, Jeff said he and his sons had planned to play that one during the session but had to scratch that song and another one off the setlist because Ali “forced” them to play Feel Free. Jeff jokingly said to her, “That’s on you.” She awkwardly shot back with a line about how those songs that had gotten cut probably weren’t that good anyway.

Anyway, what else? I guess the only other thing I can think of was that Jeff gave Spencer and Sammy a shout out for adjusting their harmonies on Stray Cats In Spain (I think) on the fly because they usually sing different ones when Sima and Macie are there, so that made for a slightly different dynamic for that song.

It’s unclear exactly when this podcast episode will air, but I’m sure we’ll be made aware of it through the appropriate channels. I assume it won’t be edited much, though I suppose that’s always a possibility. Here was the complete program, as it was performed:

Enough

Amar Bharati

—Jeff interview, pt. 1—

Feel Free (started and restarted)

Stray Cats In Spain

—Jeff interview, pt. 2—

Throwaway Lines

Lou Reed Was My Babysitter

I guess all it took for me to get back to the grindstone of writing these inane blatherings was a surprising, epic and, dare I say, historic evening in the annals of Tweedydom. For the second time in less than two weeks — “I live here now,” he joked as he took the stage — Jeff found himself at Bowery Ballroom to play music that wasn’t Wilco with people that didn’t include any of his bandmates in Wilco.

Coming off a brief tour with Golden Smog, Jeff returned to New York City with sons Spencer and Sammy (and wife Susie) in tow as the unannounced special guests of Yo La Tengo for the sixth night of their annual eight-show Hanukkah run. For those who aren’t familiar with YLT’s much-loved Hanukkah shindigs, they traditionally feature a different surprise musical act and comedian who aren’t revealed until just before the venue doors open on that given evening. It was Jeff’s third time participating in the Hanukkah festivities after a solo set way back in 2010 when the shows were still held at the legendary Maxwell’s in Hoboken, N.J., and a 2017 performance when Jeff opened the show solo and then he and Spencer joined Yo La Tengo for most of its set to form a supergroup dubbed Yo La Tweedy.

With a new (triple) album to promote in Twilight Override, some speculated that this might be the year Jeff returned to play the Hanukkah shows, but as the week wore on, you started to wonder if it actually would happen. Fortunately for the faithful, on Night 6, Jeff’s name finally appeared (along with comedian Jo Firestone) on the signage announcing the nightly lineup.

Yet the billing of “Jeff Tweedy” didn’t even hint at what we would ultimately see when Jeff finally took the stage with Spencer and Sammy for what would essentially be the trio’s first public performance as The Raccoonists (who had previously released a 7-inch single and had an Aquarium Drunkard Lagniappe Session). As Jeff explained to the crowd, “The name of this band is Raccoonists. We’ve never played outside our basement.” A bit later Jeff added, jokingly (as Ira Kaplan cracked up looking on from side stage), “This is our first show. We figured nobody paid to see us, and it’s for charity, so you’re a fucking asshole if you have any complaints.”

What that show turned out to be was a combination of mostly stripped-down Twilight Override material as well as several improvised Yo La Tengo-esque noise interludes that featured Jeff on electric guitar and Spencer on drums. That included one jam that emerged straight out of Amar Bharati, when Spencer started out front on backing vocals before going back to the drums. He would continue to go back and forth throughout the set, and the trio had an almost-Loose Fur vibe in a way.

On the actual songs, for the most part, Jeff alternated between acoustic guitars, while Spencer stuck to backing vocals and Sammy played some kind of keyboard or synth that I couldn’t really see while also contributing harmony vocals. In addition to some of the standout tracks from TO, such as Stray Cats In Spain and Lou Reed Was My Babysitter,  we also got what I think was just the second-ever public performances of Too Real and Throwaway Lines (and the first with this trio configuration, I’m almost certain). As they left the stage following the opening set, Jeff made a point to stop and tell the audience how he had spent most of his adult life in rooms like Bowery Ballroom, within an indie music universe that Yo La Tengo had helped to create. He shared that the first show Uncle Tupelo played “out of our home area” was opening for Yo La Tengo at Cicero’s in St. Louis and expressed how much he loved the band and how grateful he was to be able to take part in these Hanukkah shows again.

Of course, Jeff and sons weren’t nearly done for the night. They returned for the Yo La Tengo set as well and, for the first time, Yo La Tweedy played as a unit for the entirety of the show (with Sammy coming in and out at various points). The main set included You Are Not Alone with Jeff obviously singing lead vocals, as well as covers of Love Minus Zero/No Limit (by Bob Dylan) and You Can Have It All (recorded by George McCrae and covered by Yo La Tengo on its album And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out).

Perhaps the most surprising part of the show was the all-Herman’s Hermits encore, which Ira dedicated to Susie...wherever she was in the audience. Naturally, the group began with I’m Into Something Good sung by Jeff (with harmony vocals by Sammy and James McNew), which was utterly delightful. In keeping with YLT’s tradition of playing songs by Jewish songwriters during this portion of the show, the group also played No Milk Today (written by the great Graham Gouldman) with Spencer and Sammy taking the lead vocals before closing with the Ira-sung My Reservation’s Been Confirmed, a rocker that was originally supposed to be the penultimate song before they decided to swap it with No Milk Today on the setlist so the show could have a satisfyingly boisterous conclusion.

Overall, it was just one of those great nights of music that these Hanukkah gigs help to facilitate and everyone was seemingly having a blast. In fact, at one point between songs during the main set, Jeff even said off mike to the audience, “This is really fucking fun, you guys.” Ira, for his part, was as chatty as he has been at any point during the run, even making a “old person’s joke” during the encore when he told a story about straining to read lyrics off a sheet on his music stand for one song during sound check and having asked Sammy, who was sitting at a keyboard a few feet behind him, if he needed a set of lyrics of his own. Sammy apparently replied that he would just read them off Ira’s stand, to which Ira cracked, with a smile, “Fuck you, Sammy.” It was pretty funny, and clearly it was smiles all around as the show finally wrapped up in the wee hours.

Here was the complete “Jeff Tweedy” setlist, as played:

Cry Baby Cry

Amar Bharati>

—noisy jam 1­—

Evergreen

A Robin Or A Wren

Too Real

—noisy jam 2—

Stray Cats In Spain

Mirror

—noisy jam 3—

Save It For Me

Throwaway Lines

Lou Reed Was My Babysitter

And here was the entire Yo La Tweedy setlist, as played (hat tip to Jesse Jarnow’s Frank and Earthy blog):

More Stars Than There Are In Heaven

Little Eyes

Love Minus Zero/No Limit [Bob Dylan]

Aselestine

Season Of The Shark

You Are Not Alone [Mavis Staples; written by Jeff Tweedy]

The Lie & How We Told It

Did I Tell You?

You Can Have It All [George McCrae; written by Harry Wayne Casey]

The Race Is On Again

For You Too

A Shy Dog

Brain Capers

Tom Courtenay

I Heard You Looking

---------------------------------

I’m Into Something Good [Herman’s Hermits; written by Carole King/Gerry Goffin]

Hold On [Herman’s Hermits; written by Steve Barri/P.F. Sloan]

Just A Little Bit Better [Herman’s Hermits; written by Kenny Young]

No Milk Today [Herman’s Hermits; written by Graham Gouldman]

My Reservation’s Been Confirmed [Herman’s Hermits; written by Keith Hopwood/Derek Leckenby/Harvey Lisberg]

On 11/11/2025 at 11:14 PM, HeavyMetalDrummist said:

Any rumors, hints or speculations? I know there's that Golden Smog business, but maybe something after that?

I believe the Wilco folks already said they're done touring for 2025, no? In any case, I wouldn't bet on anything given the Tweedy calendar is already fairly full through March. He/they've got to take a little time off sometime.

Complete setlist, as played:

Betrayed

One Tiny Flower

Caught Up In The Past

Sign Of Life

Forever Never Ends

This Is How It Ends

Low Key

World Away

KC Rain (No Wonder)

Don’t Forget

Mirror

Stray Cats In Spain

Out In The Dark

Cry Baby Cry

Flowering

New Orleans

Diamond Light Pt. 1

No One’s Moving On

Feel Free

Lou Reed Was My Babysitter

------------------------------------

Family Ghost

You Don’t Love Me Yet [Roky Erickson]

God Save The Queen [Sex Pistols]

Enough

Number of Twilight Override songs played (out of 30): 16.

“Special” song(s): If you had the Tweedy band covering the Sex Pistols on your bingo card for this Twilight Override tour, then you had more foresight than me. And even if I would have predicted such a cover, I would’ve thought it would happen at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, where bassist Sid Vicious famously punched a hole in the wall on the band’s ill-fated 1978 North American tour. But I didn’t realize that perhaps an even more infamous gig on that run happened at Dallas’ Longhorn Ballroom, which saw Vicious somehow get his face bloodied — some accounts say he was hit by a beer bottle, others that he was headbutted — and then be immortalized in a famous photograph of him playing with blood running down his chest. The lore of that incident apparently inspired Jeff to pay homage, and he took the lead vocals on a spirited rendition of God Save The Queen that he said the band had just learned earlier that afternoon. Before that, we also got a nice cover of Roky Erickson’s You Don’t Love Me Yet with Macie Stewart on lead vocals.

Support report: Sima Cunningham, playing solo electric with a hollow-body Gibson, as she has been doing during her turns as the opening act on this tour. She has been featuring mostly songs from her solo record High Roller, but also played a more recent composition and also invited Finom bandmate Stewart to join her on As You Are off the duo’s most recent, Jeff-produced album Not God. Sima’s set was as follows: For Liam/Your Bones/High Roller/Both Ways/Nothing/new-I’m Really Scared/As You Are (w/Macie Stewart on violin and co-vocals).

Venue vibes: The Longhorn Ballroom has a long history as a country-and-western dance hall that, since its opening in 1950, has been operated at various points by western swing king Bob Wills as well as Lee Harvey Oswald-shooter Jack Ruby. The current setup seems to be a flexible one in which it can be all reserved seating or some combination of a general admission standing area in front of the stage surrounded by different tiers of seating, which was the case for this show. In either case, the stage is relatively high — approximately five feet — and while there is no barricade separating the stage from the audience, there is a weird three-foot tall wood block that spans the entire length of the stage (quite handy as a place to put a drink or stow your merch purchases, I must say) that somewhat prevents the crowd from getting too close. Generally speaking, the Longhorn feels pretty big — befitting its Texas setting — and indeed the listed capacity of 2,250 was definitely larger than most of the venues the Tweedy band has been playing on this tour.

Bits of tid, including Banter Corner:

• You could tell that Jeff was fascinated to be playing in the same room as that infamous Sex Pistols gig. He told the audience, prior to God Save The Queen, that, “I love this place so much. I’ve never been here before, but I get to see stuff that I’ve only seen in movies or on TV.” Afterward, he asked if anyone in attendance had also been at that Pistols’ show in 1978. “They’re all dead, right?” Jeff asked. One guy yelled back, “They were making us!” To which Jeff shot back, “They were fucking to the Sex Pistols? Really? Well, that explains a lot about you fellas.” Then Jeff added, “I was 10, so I wasn’t making anybody.”
• More from Banter Corner: Jeff once again mentioned the “ambiguous” ending of KC Rain (No Wonder) — which I meant to say in the Tulsa show notes that the band avoided that night by going straight into Having Been Is No Way To Be — and joked that “every night we play that one and there’s just a little gap (of silence) that leaves me shitting my pants because no one’s clapping.”
• Speaking of clapping, I noticed that there was more encouragement by Jeff and some of his bandmates for the audience to clap along at points, such as as the start of Flowering and midway through Diamond Light Pt. 1. I guess there are obvious clapalongs during a few Wilco songs as well (The Late Greats, Spiders (Kidsmoke)), but  I just always think of how Jeff sort of shakes his head when people start clapping along during some of his solo shows, and has even talked about how he can find clapping distracting, so I found the encouragement of it here kind of amusing.
• Twilight Override, which has been the first song of the encore for every show since the tour started in earnest on 8 October, got cut from the setlist tonight. I’m not 100 percent sure, but I think it was on the printed setlist; it just didn’t get played for some reason. Unless I missed another instance, this was the first time on the tour that the title track hasn’t been played. Overall, this show was a little shorter than most have been on this run, clocking in at 1 hour, 51 minutes.
• On World Away, which I also mentioned in the Tulsa show notes, the band once again changed up the arrangement a little bit, which I guess they have been doing on this run. But I finally kind of took notice of the whole thing tonight, in particular the rest of the band taking the vocals on the second and third verses while Jeff does his shredding on electric guitar. And there is also that instrumental almost-coda to the song the way they’re playing it now, which I also appreciated more tonight.
• When he introduces all of the band members, Jeff usually says something to the effect of “everyone up here makes records outside of this project,” and the last couple of shows I’ve seen, Jeff has even noted that the guy who drives the truck with all of their gear has a record out. We need to get the details on that! “The point is to encourage you all to make records,” Jeff said in part.