Jeff Tweedy Holds Court at Town Hall

Jeff Tweedy had plenty of songs (and guitars!) to choose from at New York’s Town Hall on Wednesday, October 28, and an audience eager to weigh in. The Wilco frontman played 22 songs over an hour and 40 minutes to a sold-out crowd, switching among acoustic guitars and fielding requests with dry humor.

The set reached well beyond Wilco, drawing on his solo recordings, his earlier band Uncle Tupelo, and his work with Golden Smog and Loose Fur. The stripped-down performance underscored the breadth of his songwriting, with just his voice and a selection of vintage acoustic Martins connecting material recorded across different decades and with different musicians.

The acoustic arrangements gave the lyrics and melodies room to stand out, offering a different perspective on songs the crowd knew from their recordings. The tour marks the first anniversary of Tweedy’s latest solo album, Twilight Override, but the set also included three new tunes, “Sad Ya Know,” “Lifelong Prayer” and “Shady.” Even with so much material to revisit, Tweedy is still adding to the catalog.

The audience had plenty of suggestions for what else he should play. Tweedy pointed out that fans could have submitted requests through his website, though that did little to discourage people from shouting them out. He answered dryly, musing that every song seemed to get requested once. Near the end of the set, he announced, “We’re getting very, very, very close to the end… I mean, in general,” prompting laughter.

Case Oats opened the evening with a duo performance by Casey Gomez Walker and her husband, Tweedy’s son Spencer. The two were married earlier this month.

Tweedy’s solo tour continues through the Northeast and Midwest, with another New York City stop at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg on November 4, before heading to Ireland later in November. Wilco returns to the stage in December for its Winterlude shows in Chicago.

Setlist: Feel Free, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart (Wilco), Sad Ya Know, Via Chicago (Wilco), New Madrid (Uncle Tupelo), Lifelong Prayer, Country Song Upside-Down (Wilco), Kamera (Wilco), Airline to Heaven (Billy Bragg & Wilco), Forever Never Ends, Gwendolyn, Shady, Hesitating Beauty (Billy Bragg & Wilco), One Sunday Morning (Wilco), Jesus Etc. (Wilco), Please Tell My Brother (Golden Smog), You Are Not Alone (Mavis Staples), Laminated Cat (Loose Fur), Enough, You and I (Wilco), I’m the Man Who Loves You (Wilco), Lou Reed Was My Babysitter.