Jeff Tweedy — 24 July 2025, South Deerfield, MA (Summer Stage at Tree House Brewing Company)

[bböp]

[Better late than never, right?]

 

This being Jeff’s first public performance since the announcement of the forthcoming triple album Twilight Override, it wasn’t clear exactly what we were going to get from this one-off summer gig leading up to the Newport Folk Festival. Would it be a solo show, or a full Tweedy band gig? Would it be a de facto practice for Newport, or a chance to preview a number of songs off the soon-to-released record? Would it be more of a quiet acoustic  performance, or a rockier concert befitting the outdoor summer setting?

 

As it turned out, it was a little bit of all of those things. I’ve noticed that the shows page on Wilcoworld has since been updated to indicate whether a Jeff show will be a solo outing or with a band, but there was no such indication prior to this gig at the South Deerfield outpost of the Tree House Brewing Company. Thus it was anyone’s guess as to exactly who would be joining Jeff on stage — if anyone — when people started arriving around 5 p.m. It wasn’t until Jeff took the stage three hours later that we learned the Tweedy band for the evening would consist of Spencer Tweedy on drums and backing vocals, Sammy Tweedy on backing vocals and Liam Kazar on bass and backing vocals.

 

The setlist turned out to be a bit less heavy on songs from Twilight Override than you might have expected, and not even the ones you might have expected. Of the four songs that have been released so far, Jeff and his bandmates only played two — One Tiny Flower and Enough. But they also performed several more from the album that aren’t officially out yet, but that Jeff has been playing on his own for quite some time, including KC Rain (No Wonder), Caught Up In The Past, Feel Free and of course Lou Reed Was My Babysitter. If I’m not mistaken, that might be the first full-band performance of Lou Reed. I’m especially looking forward to seeing and hearing that one when some electric guitar and other elements get added in when they have a few more hands on deck in Sima Cunningham, Macie Stewart and perhaps Jim Elkington.

 

On this sunny summer evening, outdoors on the lawn at Tree House’s Summer Stage setup, Jeff cautioned the audience that this would be a quieter sort of show than some might have expected (and would feature songs from the solo albums he has been putting out over the past decade as opposed to Wilco material). Referring to several recent noteworthy deaths, Jeff quipped, “If you were hoping for a raucous celebration of Ozzy’s life…there’s gonna be more of a Chuck Mangione energy. I’m not even gonna talk about Hulk (Hogan).”

 

Of course, Jeff did end up paying tribute to the Black Sabbath frontman later in the show when he came out solo to start the encore and, without any introduction, launched into the familiar opening lines of that band’s classic War Pigs (a version of which he had recently shared on Starship Casual). It might be the only time Jeff performs that song live, so it was cool to hear it — and it certainly pleased an audience dominated by middle-aged white men.

 

Perhaps in an attempt to appease a portion of the crowd that was either expecting him to play some more familiar tunes and/or were dragged along to the show by partners or friends, Jeff also performed a short mid-show solo set the way he used to do back in the early touring days of the Tweedy band. Prefacing that six-song run, Jeff joked, “I thought I’d play a few for those of you who didn’t know what you were getting into tonight.” The solo set also led to one of Jeff’s best visits to Banter Corner, which got started when someone shouted, “Western Mass. loves you!” Jeff responded by saying he could only think of two things at that moment, one being the local guy who is apparently known for wearing a sock puppet on his hand — the same man briefly startled Hannah Cohen during her opening set, though I’m not sure if he changed puppets for the Tweedy portion of the show — and who I vaguely remember from past Solid Sound festivals. The other thing on Jeff’s mind, he said, was that he could see the shadow of his hair blown by the wind and “I can only describe it as Founding Father.”

 

Other visits to Banter Corner included Jeff reminiscing about his previous show at this Tree House location in June 2023 when a little kid he encountered made him play Baby Shark in its entirety at soundcheck. “You know how long the whole thing is?” Jeff asked rhetorically. “It’s eternal.” Earlier in the show, Jeff also reiterated one of his favorite bits about hating when singer-songwriters introduce a song in which the title explains the tune, as in, “This song is about Satan riding a horse in the fog. It’s called…Satan Horse Fog.” However, he added a coda to the "satan horse fog" banter I hadn’t heard before when he told a brief anecdote about his days as a record-store clerk when an older man came into the store and asked if they had the record with Satan riding a horse in the fog. “You mean Mason Proffit?” Jeff replied. “Yeah, I got it.”

 

Dressed in summery white and cream tones that highlighted his recent weight loss and with his whole immediate family in attendance — his wife Susie included, to whom he dedicated I’m The Man Who Loves You during his solo mini-set ­—  Jeff seemed like he was just feeling about as happy as he could be. He laughed at himself during Low Key when he apparently deviated a bit from how the song goes at the end. And he beamed during the encore when Sammy got a big cheer after taking the lead vocals on Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s Helpless, which has become a Tweedy band favorite.

 

So it was a fun night, all in all, even if it wasn’t quite what I expected. It turned out to be less of a kickoff for the Twilight Override album cycle as much as a quick preview — Jeff joked about the forthcoming triple record, saying “Buckle up,” — as well as a pleasant warmup for Newport. A nice summer evening outdoors at a brewery in scenic western Massachusetts (where you could pre-order a variety of different beers to be picked up on your way out)? Tough to find much, if anything, to complain about with that.

 

Here was the complete setlist, as played (didn't get a look at a printed setlist, so can't say if there were any changes/omissions; all songs with full band, unless noted):

 

Evergreen

A Robin Or A Wren

KC Rain (No Wonder)

Gwendolyn

Having Been Is No Way To Be

I Know What It's Like

Save It For Me

Caught Up In The Past

Don't Forget

Flowering

One Tiny Flower

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart*

A Lifetime To Find*

Impossible Germany*

Please Tell My Brother*

Either Way*

I'm The Man Who Loves You*

Family Ghost

You Are Not Alone

Feel Free

Guess Again

Enough

Low Key

Lou Reed Was My Babysitter

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

War Pigs* [Black Sabbath]

Helpless [Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young]

California Stars

 

* — denotes Jeff solo

[Albert Tatlock]

22 hours ago, bböp said:

"satan horse fog" banter

LOL

 

Ta