Jeff Tweedy Covers Neil Young In Toronto

Jeff Tweedy brought his WARM tour north of the border on Wednesday for a solo acoustic show at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Toronto. The Wilco frontman worked in a pair of covers from Canadian hero Neil Young‘s sophomore LP Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere towards the end of his career-spanning night.

Tweedy opened his evening at the historic 1,250-capacity venue with “Via Chicago” from Wilco’s 1999 release Summerteeth. From there the singer-songwriter would mix material from his full-time band with cuts from his solo album and material from Uncle Tupelo and Loose Fur. Longtime fan-favorites where represented with “I’m Trying To Break Your Heart,” “Jesus, Etc.,” “California Stars,” “Passenger Side” and “I’m The Man That Loves You.” Jeff honored another Canadian performing “You & I,” a tune on which the studio version features Leslie Feist on vocals. Additionally, Tweedy offered up “White Wooden Cross,” a song debuted earlier on the tour and played last night for the fifth time ever live.

Towards the end of his 20-song main set, Tweedy mused “how deep a cut by Neil Young it would take for a Canadian audience” not to know the words, “let’s try this one…it’s not that deep a cut,” according to the Wilco message board ViaChicago.org user bböp. He then launched into “The Losing End (When You’re On),” telling the audience at one point during the song “I’m not gonna play it if you’re not gonna sing it.”

Young was honored for a second time during Tweedy’s three-song encore as he made good on a request for “Cinnamon Girl” to bring the night to close. Jeff had previously played the tune exclusively with Wilco and often with guests during the summer of 2013 on the AmericanaramA tour, after they debuted it at their all-request covers set at their Solid Sound Festival. Last night marked the first time he had played the song solo according to Setlist.fm. Here’s a clip of “Cinnamon Girl” shared by jamiesmusicviews:

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When #JeffTweedy takes @neilyoungarchives requests in #Canada. He’s the best. #CinnamonGirl #NeilYoung #Wilco

A post shared by It’s My Jam ✌ ✨ (@jamiesmusicviews) on Apr 3, 2019 at 8:23pm PDT

Watch fan-shot video from last night captured by ShakyShorty below:

The Losing End (When You’re On)

A Shot In The Arm

In other Jeff Tweedy news, the Wilco frontman will play a short set at Newbury Comics in Boston this Saturday, April 6 at 12:15 p.m.

Setlist