Golden Smog Performs With Jeff Tweedy In Minneapolis

All-star supergroup Golden Smog finally reunited for concerts at First Avenue on Saturday and Sunday night belatedly honoring the 50th anniversary of the famed Minneapolis venue. The shows were the band’s first in over a decade and saw them joined by Wilco frontman and occasional member Jeff Tweedy for the first time since 2008.

Originally slated for 2020, the show was postponed and rescheduled with a second night added due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Golden Smog’s lineup for the weekend saw Tweedy perform with Kraig Johnson of Run Westy Run, Big Star drummer Jody Stephens, former Soul Asylum guitarist Danny Murphy and the Jayhawks’ Gary Louris and Marc Perlman as well as violinist Jessy Greene.

The band stuck to a similar setlist each night as they went heavy on material from 1995’s Down By The Old Mainstream, 1998’s Weird Tales and 2006’s Another Fine Day. All three studio albums featured Tweedy. A run of Weird Tales standouts “Look Forward To Seeing You,” “Lost Love” and “To Call My Own” kicked off both concerts before Golden Smog looked to Down By The Old Mainstream for “V.”

Saturday’s main set also included covers of Faces’ “Glad & Sorry,” David Bowie’s “Starman,” Love’s “Signed D.C.” and Brian Wilson’s “Love & Mercy,” while Sunday’s main set saw the band take on “Glad & Sorry,” Gait MacDermot’s “Easy To Be Hard” and “Strangers” by The Kinks. Golden Smog fit the beloved “Pecan Pie” into the middle of both main sets.

The band treated the capacity crowd to a four-song encore on Saturday that started with classic “Radio King” and continued with “Listen Joe.” Jeff Tweedy’s son, Sammy Tweedy then emerged to front Golden Smog on Neil Young’s “Helpless” before the group went sans guests to end the night with “Until You Came Along” off Weird Tales.

Last night’s first encore started with the pairing of “Please Tell My Brother” and “Radio King.” Sammy then came back out for another “Helpless” cover and stuck around for “Until You Came Along.” Golden Smog went on to return for a second encore featuring a cover of Neil Young’s “Revolution Blues.”

Watch pro-shot and fan-shot video footage from Golden Smog’s reunion shows below: