Jason Isbell Plays Neutral Milk Hotel’s ‘Holland, 1945’ In Netherlands

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit's current European Tour brought the band to the Netherlands for a concert at De Oosterpoort in Groningen. Bandleader Jason Isbell used the occasion to fittingly break out a cover of Neutral Milk Hotel’s song “Holland, 1945” at the start of the encore.

Isbell holds Neutral Milk Hotel and the songwriting of the band’s founder, Jeff Mangum, in high regard.

“I want somebody to get just as fired up about the content of the songs as they do about, you know, Neutral Milk Hotel,” Isbell, discussing his own songwriting, told GQ in 2020.

Several years had passed since Isbell last performed the song from Neutral Milk Hotel’s landmark 1998 album, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. He noted the gap between “Holland, 1945” appearances before attempting the cover.

“I used to play this song a long time ago,” Isbell revealed after retaking the stage alone at De Oosterpoort following the evening’s main set. “Let’s see how it goes.”

After the rarely performed cover kicked off the encore, Isbell was joined by The 400 Unit – guitarist Sadler Vaden, drummer Chad Gamble, keyboardist Derry DeBorja, bassist Anna Butterss and multi-instrumentalist Will Johnson – for show-closing runs through “If We Were Vampires” and “This Ain’t It.”

See how the “Holland, 1945” cover went via the below audience-shot video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pen9j1jx1cg