Jeff Tweedy’s two-night stand in Portland, Oregon was a special event, with Tweedy continuing the tour tradition of adding a unique cover to each night’s encore. At the March 31st show, Tweedy played what he called “the quintessential Pacific Northwest tune of all-time.” After a beat, he added “we won’t play this one again either.”
Joined onstage by longtime collaborator Scott McCaughey who took lead vocals, the band ripped into the garage rock classic, “Louie Louie.” The song, originally performed by The Kingsmen, hit #2 on the Billboard chart in 1963. There’s pretty much no new way to perform the three-chord song, so you just get the sense of McCaughey, Tweedy and his backing band, holding on and having fun. (Tweedy takes the solo and it’s a blast to hear.)
Before performing that song, McCaughey came out to play The Minus Five‘s “Dear Landlord (The Reason I Quit).” That song came out on The Minus Five’s 2003 Down with Wilco album, which was produced by McCaughey and Tweedy.
Tweedy is wrapping up a solo tour promoting his triple-album, Twilight Override. Tweedy’s band Wilco has a bunch of shows scheduled for the spring, along with their biennial Solid Sound Festival in North Adams, Massachusetts.
There may not be an easily found new way perform this song if you include Iggy Pop’s version as historic. If not, he definitely found a new way to approach this iconic tune.