Nick Soto

It’s rare to pass the Village Green in Woodstock without sighting an aging hippy, but a bit further down the road at the Bearsville Theater, the Mekons from Leeds, one of the original ‘77 British punk bands, brought out an aging crowd of punks in cool band t-shirts: graphics for X, Gang of Four, Scrawl and The Replacements were noted.

“Woodstock is beautiful, quite scenic,” said vocalist Sally Timms, who bandmate Jon Langford (and Mekons co-founder) called “the queen mother of punk rock”.

“We’ve played shitter places than this,” admitted Langford.

The long-standing punk collective was in the Catskills to tour and promote their new release of Horrorble (Mekons vs. Tony Maimone In Dub Conference) dub reggae remixes of their excellent 2025 full-length Horror. The new dub release is an echo-laden reinterpretation of Horror, made in collaboration with Tony Maimone of Pere Ubu fame. Tunes from Horror (mostly minus the dub) made up a large part of an hour and half, Tuesday night set in Bearsville that also included classics from the band’s six-decade recording career.

Mekons sets are never a dull affair because nearly all the members have a featured vocal (except for ever-steady bassist David Trumfio) and all join in on the choruses in a ragged-but-right barroom singalong. The Mekons are punk in ethos and working class revolution lyrics more than sound these days, with their tunes reflecting the group’s varied interests in alt-country, post-punk, art-punk, trad folk, and dub.

The set opened the right way, pairing the distorted post-punk guitar riffage of Langford with the mountain pure vocals of Sally Timms on “Machine” from 1994’s Retreat from Memphis. It was a treat to hear Timms sing up close and personal in the intimate confines of The Bearsville Theater – her fine vocal turns (particularly on “Oblivion”) were the perfect compliment to Langford’s more aggressive Welsh-punk stylings.

Founding member Tom Greenhalgh wasn’t able to make the gig (he still calls England home while Langford, Timms, and company have been longtime members of a great Chicago alt-country-punk music scene), but singer Kelly Hogan made a surprise guest appearance for “War Economy” where she ably took on the lead vocal of my favorite post-punky track off of Horror. Thus began a running joke of the night as one vocalist after another took over Greenhalgh lead vocal parts. Hogan (brandishing a clipboard of handwritten lyrics) also did a great job stepping in for Greenhalgh to sing “(Sometimes I Feel Like) Fletcher Christian”, a song that combines a number of things I love about the Mekons: their literary nature, their lyrics that fight oppression, their many songs that might be classified as near-sea shanties, and their love of allusion (I’m an English teacher/record collector after all, so this in right in my wheelhouse).

Aside from the vocals, the sidemen were a show unto themselves. Legendary drummer Steve Goulding is (for my money) the secret weapon of the Mekons. While everything else gets a little loose and folksy, Goulding is rock solid on the kit, focused more on the groove than seeking attention. On both the classic “Oblivion” and newer song “Western Design”, his hint-of-reggae influence reminded me that Goulding is indeed the dude responsible for the classic beat on Elvis Costello’s “Watching the Detectives. Rico Bell added “Mekons texture” on keys, accordion (see “Slightly South of the Border”), and harmonica all night. And, Susie Honeyman handled beautiful folk violin (“Last Dance”) as well as she did John Cale-esque drones (“Memphis, Egypt”).

“She’s our not-cliche Scottish violin player” joked Langford and Timms at Honeyman’s expense. Langford and Timms were top shelf banterers all night. They were so clever, that it made total sense that one of the running stage gimmicks was an old telephone receiver hooked up to a microphone that sent various refrains and call-and-responses from Langford and Timms blasting into the crowd.

Timms was particularly humorous between songs, suggesting that the audience of elder-punks (including one artist in the crowd who was literally “drawing the show”) needed to fight big tech with “their little pens and papers”. She also made reference to the late time of their set when many in the audience might prefer to be “in bed at nine o’clock”.

And while everyone may have been up past their bedtime on a Tuesday night, and the set did drag a bit as it passed the hour mark, it didn’t stop the Mekons from ending their set with the Fear and Whiskey-era “Hard to Be Human Again” – a stone-cold classic. The Langford shouter featured a nifty harmonica intro from utility-man Bell, and boasted a chorus that keeps the Mekons relevant in 2026, when it’s pretty damn hard to…well…be a living, breathing, thinking human waiting for the AI robots, big tech, and their political supporters to take over.

For the late-night encore, Honeyman took a fine vocal turn on the lyrically rich and musically moving “Sanctuary”. Then the band went dub with the reggae inflected “Tina” which featured my favorite Langford solo of the night – an echo-laden blast of riffs supported by Goulding’s groove and the fat Fender bass sound of studio cat Trumfio.

I could see the setlist from my spot near the stage, so I knew what was coming: a full-fledged sing-along of the still-rebellious and seriously rocking “Memphis, Egypt”. I left the Bearsville Theater with my soul saved by rock and roll again. Long live the Mekons.

To suggest Toronto, Canada’s The Sadies were the undercard is a bit of a misnomer as Travis Good and company played a ripping hour and a half set that proved they were every bit the co-headliner on this gig.

After the tragic death of co-founder (and Travis’ brother) Dallas Good in 2022, The Sadies now perform as a trio: Travis Good on guitar and vocals, Sean Dean on upright bass, and Mike Belitsky on drums. Every show is dedicated to Dallas (one of the band’s main songwriters, guitarists, and vocalists). He died suddenly of natural causes at age 48 while under a doctor’s care for a coronary illness.

Travis Good certainly honors his brother’s memory and leaves it all on the stage. Good is a bad man with a ‘72 Gretsch in his hands. Leaning heavily on the neopsychedelic garage songwriting of 2022’s Colder Streams album, and the retro-surf sound of the band’s late-90s instrumental work, Good left a pool of sweat on the stage and on the body of his road-weary-with-patina Gretsch.

Good’s guitar sound is Twin Peaks-tremolo stomp pedal goodness mixed with twang and surf. At times his posturing and presence reminds me of fellow Canadian guitar-god Neil Young and his wild hair, reminiscent of Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde-era, was illuminated all night by the rock and roll halo of the Bearsville stage lights.

I’m not sure this will translate, but the best way I can describe The Sadies’ live sound is to ask you to imagine someone trying to surf a field of Canadian heartland wheat. And I mean their live sound – their records are fine and all, but this is a band you have to see up close for full effect.

Good is a pedalboard and pickup position wizard who alternates between echo, delay, reverb, twang, and Big Muff fuzz to blend the best elements of chicken pickin’ country, garage rock, psych, and surf. He’s well-supported in style and chops by Dean on bass (he wore a rad Western ascot) and Belitsky on drums (who has tremendous hair). When Belitsky opened up his sound a bit, as he did on “So Far For So Few” he channeled British Invasion-era Keith Moon while Good’s guitar was equal parts Pete Townsend and Link Wray.

Good fired off songs one after another, introducing the instrumental “Only Good One” as a “here’s a little shit-kicker”. As the bright-lights sweat dripped down his face he told the crowd that Dallas wrote “about how much he hated the summer time” before launching “Another Season Again”. It was getting hot in the club too as the room filled up to see The Sadies’ excellent set.

Like the Mekons, The Sadies are kind of a record-collector’s band. It’s not everyday that you can be treated to old country covers “Ain’t it Sad to Stand and Watch Love Die”, garage classics like “Leave Me Alone” by Canadian Squires, and fiddle tunes like “Ridge Runner Reel” in the same set. The Sadies are a genre-defying band steeped in myriad influences. And while Good’s voice is serviceable and, at times, the trio sounds a little spare without its departed member, Dallas is conjured by every note Travis bends and every lonely lyric he spits into the microphone.

My mind was full of rock and roll hoodoo and the ghost of Dallas Good, when to my utter surprise, Travis called sometimes-collaborator and full-time showman Jon Spencer to the stage. In “Back Off” a floor-stomping, political diatribe aimed at ICE, politicians, and the man in general, Spencer revved up the crowd, introduced the band, did his best James Brown by way of “Who Do You Love?” Bo Diddley, and generally reminded everyone in attendance why it’s a good idea to go out on a Tuesday night once in a while even if you’re a punk with arthritis.

The Sadies – 6/9/26 – Bearsville Theater – Woodstock, NY

Little Sadie; Oak Ridges; Cut Up High and Dry; Cheat; More Alone; Through Strange Eyes; Message to Belial; 10 More Songs; So Far for So Few; Lay Down Your Arms; No One’s Listening; Only Good One; All the Good; The Trial; Dark Eyes; Ain’t It Sad to Stand and Watch Love Die (Conway Twitty cover); Another Year Again; Rat Creek; Leave Me Alone (Canadian Squires cover); Northumberland West; My Heart of Wood; Another Season Again; Ridge Runner Reel; Stop and Start; Back Off (w/ special guest Jon Spencer)

Mekons – 6/9/26 – Bearsville Theater – Woodstock, NY:

Machine; War Economy; Keep on Hoppin’; Oblivion; Insignificance; (Sometimes I Feel) Like Fletcher Christian; Last Dance; Western Design; Last Weeks; Slightly South; Fallen Leaves; Last Night on Earth; I am Crazy; MudCrawlers; 32 Weeks; Hard to Be Human Again

Encore: Sanctuary; Tina; Memphis, Egypt

Photos by Nick Soto