Golden Smog (Wilco, Jayhawks, Soul Asylum, more) played their first NYC-area shows in nearly 20 years: pics, setlist, video

Golden Smog (photo by Ellen Qbertplaya)

Golden Smog, the country-rock supergroup centered around Kraig Johnson (Run Westy Run), Dan Murphy (Soul Asylum), and Gary Louris and Marc Perlman of The Jayhawks, played their first NYC-area shows in nearly 20 years this past weekend as part of a short three-date December run. These dates have been extra special as they also included Jeff Tweedy in their ranks, and they played Jersey City’s White Eagle Hall on Friday, and Manhattan’s Bowery Ballroom on Saturday. Pictures from Bowery by Ellen Qbertplaya are in this post.

As a nod to their Midwest roots, Golden Smog took the stage on Saturday night to the jazzy The Bob Newhart Show theme before launching into “Looking Forward to Seeing You” from 1998’s Weird Tales. Tweedy joked that the band was playing three major markets on this tour – New York, Chicago, and Jersey City. As you might expect with a group where so many members take turns on lead vocals, there was a lot of switching around with instruments with Louris, Tweedy, Johnson, Murphy dropping in and out of the spotlight; Steve Gorman, formerly of The Black Crowes, held it down on drums.

Weird Tales and Down by the Old Mainstream — their first two albums — made up the bulk of the setlist at Bowery Ballroom (which was four songs longer than Jersey City), with a few from Another Fine Day and Blood on the Slacks, plus a few covers (Brian Wilson, David Bowie, Neil Young, Eddie & The Hot Rods, and The Kinks’ “Strangers,” which is on Another Fine Day).

Check out setlists for Bowery and White Eagle Hall, plus photos and a few fan shot video below.

Golden Smog wrap their run in Chicago on Tuesday.

SETLIST: Golden Smog @ Bowery Ballroom 12/6/2025
Looking Forward to Seeing You
Lost Love
To Call My Own
V
Glad & Sorry
Love and Mercy (Brian Wilson)
Ill Fated
Starman (David Bowie)
Walk Where He Walked
He’s a Dick
She Don’t Have to See You
Won’t Be Coming Home
I Can’t Keep From Talking
Yesterday Cried
Pecan Pie
Strangers
Red Headed Stepchild
If I Only Had a Car

Encore:
Radio King
Listen Joe
Long Time Ago
Please Tell My Brother
Scotch on Ice
Revolution Blues (Neil Young)
Do Anything You Wanna Do (Eddie & the Hot Rods)
Until You Came Along

SETLIST: Golden Smog @ White Eagle Hall 12/5/2025
Looking Forward to Seeing You
Lost Love
To Call My Own
V
Glad and Sorry (The Faces)
Love and Mercy (Brian Wilson)
Ill Fated
Starman (David Bowie)
He’s a Dick
She Don’t Have to See You (Bobby Patterson)
Won’t Be Coming Home
I Can’t Keep From Talking
Yesterday Cried
Pecan Pie
Strangers
Red Headed Stepchild
If I Only Had a Car

Encore:
Radio King
Listen Joe
Please Tell My Brother
On the Beach (Neil Young)
Until You Came Along