The Raccoonists, 19 December 2025, New York, NY (Bowery Ballroom; opening for Yo La Tengo)

[bböp]

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]

[Albert Tatlock]

Ta.

Big fan of No Milk Today, as I’ve said before. Noise jams - not so much.