Fleet Foxes’ summer tour starts in Cleveland tonight (June 13), so to bring some attention to the cause, the group has shared a pair of live recordings from the past year, both available as name-your-price downloads on Bandcamp.
One is a cover of The Strokes’ “Under Control” alongside The Westerlies and tour openers Uwade, at Forest Hills Stadium last August. The other is a rendition of Joni Mitchell’s Hejira” with Daniel Rossen, Greg Pecknold, and The Westerlies at Los Angeles’ The Belasco this past March.
Robin Pecknold shared some thoughts on both performances, saying of “Under Control” in a press release:
“Last summer we were honored to have the incredible vocalist and songwriter Uwade Akhere open for us on tour. One thing we all bonded over backstage was a shared love of The Strokes — hearing Uwa’s voice echoing down the halls as she sang ‘The End Has No End’ or ‘Reptilia’ was always a highlight of the day. Considering this, I thought she might get a kick out of singing ‘Under Control’ with us and the Westerlies at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in Queens, so we pulled it together at soundcheck and asked her — it was amazing! She ruled it. Thank you Uwade!”
He also noted of “Hejira”:
“My father built bass guitars and played in bands in his twenties and thirties in the Northwest; his dream was to be Joni Mitchell’s bassist, like the great Jaco Pastorius. Right before our surprise show with Joanna Newsom in March, I bought back for him one of the fretless basses he had made in the 80’s, and I thought it would be sweet for us to play ‘Hejira’ together, on the same bill as Joanna, the Joni of our time. It was also an honor to be joined by Daniel Rossen for this, one of the greatest musicians of the last 20 years. Thank you, Dan and Dad!”
Listen to both tracks below.
https://fleetfoxes.bandcamp.com/album/under-control-live-at-forest-hills-stadium-feat-uwade-the-westerlies
https://fleetfoxes.bandcamp.com/album/hejira-live-at-the-spring-recital-feat-daniel-rossen-greg-pecknold-the-westerlies
