Jeff Tweedy at Islington Assembly Hall

Jeff Tweedy

Macie Stewart

Islington Assembly Hall, 20 February 2026

What an amazing evening seeing Jeff Tweedy tonight with a youthful band that features his two sons and their friends and showcased his last solo album, the fabulous Twilight Override. Honestly still on a huge high from this one and it's made me remember just why I have always loved Tweedy's music so much!

Last year I course traveled to the grand old Royal Albert Hall to see Wilco play their biggest London show to date and while there was definitely a lot of love and affection in the air, and you could tell the band were on a high from playing such a legendary venue, for me I missed the intimacy and edgier atmosphere from seeing the band in a standing room only, smaller venue. Well, I got my wish to experience, Jeff Tweedy at least (and let's me fair here, he is Wilco), doing a solo show at the rather lovely Islington Assembly Hall. It was also especially exciting because Tweedy's recent solo album, Twilight Override, is my favourite thing he's done in years and I really fell in love with it last year, despite it being a triple album!

I was expecting there to be a lot of people queuing early for this smaller show, given Tweedy can obviously play much bigger venues, and had sold out not one but two nights, but maybe because it was a solo show or maybe it was due to the rainy weather, I really did misjudge the wait time and when I turned up, it was just me and two others standing in the rain waiting for the doors to open (the queue did expand nearer to opening time!). Rather kindly though, a lovely security lady working in the venue, opened the doors and handed me an umbrella, which made a huge difference and I can't thank her enough: so, so nice. This really set the mood for the night, as it was full of joy and the whole crowd was in good spirits. It was rather lovely.

Once inside, it was also a relief that the support act was on early too, taking to the stage at 7.30pm. I wasn't familiar with her but Macie Stewart it turns out was also in Tweedy's band, playing violin, guitar and keyboards. For her set though, she arrived on stage with a very cool and old looking semi-acoustic Gibson guitar, which often gave her songs a ghostly, bluesy feel. She also looked very effortlessly stylish, in an oversized white shirt and black trousers and sang with a strong, pure and quite haunting voice at times, her guitar effectively echoing through the hall. 

There was something quite elegant and atmospheric about Stewart's music and although she sounded uniquely her, she also reminded me a little of Weyes Blood: she is certainly in that small world of singer-songwriters with grander musical ambitions anyway. As I wasn't familiar with her music I can't tell you the songs she played (I'm sure most probably came from her most recent album When The Distance Is Blue) but they all sounded rather lovely. 

My favourite moment though came when her bandmate Sima Cunningham (who is also in Tweedy's band but also in the group Finom with Stewart), joined her on stage and they played a Finom song called Smaller, harmonising together and singing out clearly over and over "I made myself smaller and smaller, until I was a pebble in someone else's shoe." It slowly built the tension and was mesmerising throughout, getting beautifully loud and noisy at the end. I really enjoyed her set. Apparently Cunningham opened the second night, so it was pretty nice that Tweedy gave them both an opportunity to showcase their material.

Again, it wasn't long to wait for the main act (I always appreciate a punctual act especially if they arrive on stage early!) and Tweedy's five piece band took their places with Tweedy himself emerging wearing a Western-style suit, looking very smart with a new haircut and the slimmest I've seen him in years. 

Tweedy's youthful band really is a family affair. I had seen Tweedy play with his drummer son Spencer before, back in 2014 at the Palladium, supporting the album they made together Sukierae (and Spencer also plays with Waxahatchee of course), but this time Tweedy's youngest, Sammy, also joined him playing keyboards, providing percussion, and singing lots of harmonies and even some lead vocals. He seems every bit as talented as his dad and his brother and his dad later tells us that Sammy has an album he's been working on for the past seven years that will blow us all away. 

In addition to the three Tweedys, there was also, the aforementioned Macie Stewart, but also another family pair: Sima Cunningham on bass and then her brother Liam Kazar on guitar. All apparently were childhood friends in Chicago and Tweedy Sr later tells us he's known them all since they were little kids, but maybe because of this the band had tremendous chemistry and I think their youthful vigor actually rejuvenated Tweedy, as he not only seemed in a fantastic mood but really was on top form too, as if he was really enjoying himself. 

I was thrilled when they began with One Tiny Flower, which is also the opening track of Twilight Override, the song really coming to life in the live setting as it slowly built and sounded glorious with his band providing gorgeous harmonies and Stewart adding atmospheric, droning violin.

The band then proceeded to play almost the first five songs from the new record (skipping Parking Lot for This Is How It Ends), which of course made my heart leap with joy as I love the new album and they all sounded so full of energy, with the band smiling throughout. Caught Up In The Past, had that classic Tweedy alt-country swing and Love Is For Love was beautifully forlorn and moving. Forever Never Ends, meanwhile, had the curly haired Sammy Tweedy jumping from behind his keyboard, in his green tracksuit, and running to the centre of the stage to scream out the chorus "forever never ends, I'm always back there again and again and again!"

But it was This Is How It Ends, with its foreboding feel, that really grabbed my attention, particularly with its spine-chilling, off-kilter Neil Young-esque guitar solo, that expanded on the recorded version in new and beautiful ways. It was simply stunning. 

It was after this that Tweedy spoke to the audience for the first time, telling us the previous songs were all off the last record but they were about to play some older songs now, "not that old" he quipped in case anyone was expecting Wilco songs, and to be honest, as much as I love Wilco, tonight I did want to hear just Tweedy's solo stuff and he absolutely delivered on that score.

After this Tweedy and the band gave us a really nice selection of tunes from throughout his solo career, including the Tweedy album Sukeriae, with the lovely poppy Low Key coming next and the jaunty and quirky World Away, reminding me of his work with Jim O'Rourke in Loose Fur.

Later there were a couple more Tweedy (the band songs): Flowering and Diamond Light, Pt.1, and a few (but actually not that many) tracks from Jeff Tweedy's previous solo albums, namely Having Been Is No Way To Be from Warm and the riff-tastic Gwendolyn and the sweet title track from Love Is The King (this was especially fantastic and moving, ending in a wave of beautiful noisy soloing).

Tweedy was laid back, in a great mood and as funny as he usually is. At one point he tells us that we are all looking good tonight and someone shouts back, "you're looking good too!" to which Tweedy smirked and said "I wasn't fishing for that." He then tells us, "I went shopping... in my closet. I used to wear this 30 years ago." He certainly did look smart though.

After playing Mirror, he shared "I gotta stop ending songs with ambiguous endings. It sounds good on the record but live it leaves just a long enough gap before the applause starts for me to piss my pants just a little bit." This piece of information got laughs of course but also some whoops from the crowd, which surprised Tweedy. "You're cheering that?" he asked, "Great crowd! Jeff Tweedy went up there and pissed his pants and the crowd went nuts! I'm gonna try it" he joked, and stood for a moment, his head in the end, mimiciking relieving himself, like that scene in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels when Steve Martin asks if he can go to the bathroom and makes a face as if he's just wet himself at the dinner table. The crowd of course cheers this too, to which Tweedy says "I bet you've never seen that before!"

It also amused me when after playing Flowering, Tweedy told us "We're getting close to the end" (the crowd boos, "I just mean in general." He made this exact same joke at the Royal Albert Hall and probably countless more times, but somehow it made it funnier. A good old dad joke.

Much of the rest of the set was Twilight Override gems, my particular favourites (although they all sounded good) being the incredible Out In The Dark, sounding ominous yet foot-tapping, it's maybe my favourite on the record but live it really blossomed, finding new life with the band's rousing harmonies, it was really glorious. Also, the claustrophobic sounding, slightly-Krautrock feeling, No One's Moving On sounded so good and built to a glorious chorus of voices and violin, in the most stirring way, and the main set ending on the fantastically titled Lou Reed Was My Babysitter, getting brilliantly raw and punky, as Tweedy sang out with plenty of attitude, "Cos rock and roll is dead, but the dead don't die!" 

If it had all ended on this I would have been more than satisfied but Tweedy and his gang put down their instruments, and he quipped "We're going to stand over there, if you want us to come back let us know." Given how phony I find encores, this was actually a really funny and unpretentious way to do things and of course the crowd cheered and clapped until they all returned.

The encore was equally epic. After introducing the band and telling us all about their solo projects ("there's only three houses represented here," he told us, after revealing all the family ties on stage), he scolded an audience member who was shouting at him. "Settle down," he jokingly reprimanded him. "I feel like Columbo right now" before launching into a funny Peter Falk impression: "You see the thing that bothers me is... if you wanted a request why didn't you yell it at an earlier part of the show."

He told us the next song was for the Americans in the audience (there were surprisingly quite a few) and, for everyone else, it was an apology. He then played the apparently T.Rex inspired Family Ghost, reflecting on everything that's going on in the US right now, with Tweedy sardonically singing, "I'm a dope blowing smoke at the TV screen, lost all hope based on the things I've seen... underneath each added straw, oh I feel so American."

Tweedy explained how every date on this tour they've been playing cover songs unique to each show, always connected to the city they are playing in that night, that they learn the day of the show. "A town like this deserves two," he told us, "Because I don't know if you know this about this place but there's been a lot of music that's been created here." I had been expecting this and the mystery of what they would play tonight was so intriguing. It turns out the first was a cover of Richard and Linda Thompson's I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight, with Stewart and Cunningham sharing the lead vocals. 

I love this song and it's hard to believe they had only learned it that afternoon as it sounded wonderful. Tweedy of course produced one of Richard Thompson's solo albums, so it also felt like a really sweet nod to the folk legend.

The second song I must admit I did not know, even though Tweedy at the start encouraged people to sing along if they could (I get the feeling I wasn't the only one who didn't know it though, as no one attempted to sing it): Brian Eno's Needles In The Camel's Eye. Once again, Tweedy didn't sing this one and left it to the girls and Sammy but it was huge fun and very punky. It's definitely made me eager to seek out the original.

"Hey, if you're coming tomorrow night, don't expect those songs, I don't know if I made that clear. Are any of you coming tomorrow night?" he asked at the end of the song. There were some cheers but not as loud as I would have expected (indeed I was only going to one night. "Oh good! Not that many of you," he exclaimed. "I love all of you, dearly but it would be nice to play these songs to a different group of people. That's why we play two nights. I don't need to explain anything more," he laughed.

This would have been more than enough for any encore but Tweedy then gave us a beautiful almost acoustic version of Twilight Override and finally, the aptly named Enough, with its upbeat swaying rhythm (Sammy giving some great cowbell on this one) and the band getting to all sing their hearts out on the uplifting and poppy chorus. 

Just an absolutely tremendous show full of love and joy. The crowd was on great form and maybe that fed the performance because the band was obviously having a fantastic time too.  I was floating on a cloud after it ended and even a little sad that I wasn't going to see the second sold out show the following night, but I am super grateful I got to see and experience this one that's for sure.