Jack Antonoff and Bleachers rolled out a host of high-profile guests last night (July 25) during their closing set at the Newport Folk Festival, including Paramore’s Hayley Williams for a brand new song as well as Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, Waxahatchee, Weyes Blood, Maren Morris, Rufus Wainwright and Dan Reeder.
Williams played the shoegaze-steeped “Mirtazapine” for the first time after debuting it recently on the air at Nashville public radio station WNXP. “I could never be without her / I had to write a song about her,” sings in an apparent ode to the antidepressant, a proper release for which has yet to be announced. She stuck around for a cover of Modern English’s “I Melt With You,” jumping up and down in time with the song’s familiar synth melody.
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Earlier, Weyes Blood’s Natalie Mering duetted with Antonoff on the Ella Fitzgerald-popularized “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” and remained onstage to team with Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield for the Roy Orbison classic “You Got It.” Morris earned huge cheers when she emerged for Bleachers’ “Don’t Go Dark,” while Wainwright stunned the audience with his exquisite vocal performance during Bob Dylan’s “Not Dark Yet.”
Tweedy, who performs at Newport tomorrow, kept things current while lending a hand on Bleachers’ cover of Lana Del Rey’s “Margaret” and then offered a bouncy version of Wilco’s “Kamera.” The set wound down with a rendition of the Waterboys’ mid-’80s hit “The Whole of the Moon,” which Bleachers has been covering live over the past several years.
Newport Folk continues today with sets from Luke Combs, Public Enemy, Saya Gray, Remi Wolf, the Lemonheads and Iron & Wine.
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