The War On Drugs enlist Craig Finn for covers of Warren Zevon, John Hiatt and Bob Seger
The Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn has joined The War On Drugs to perform a series of covers at the latter band’s recent show in Pennsylvania.
The War On Drugs enlisted Finn as part of their Drugcember To Remember concert series, which the band revived this year at Johnny Brenda’s in their hometown of Philadelphia. Performing during the series’ second Philadelphia show on Tuesday (December 20), the band welcomed Finn for a joint performance of three covers and a Finn original.
The set kicked off with a rendition of ‘Blankets’, lifted from Finn’s 2019 solo album ‘I Need A New War’. Finn was then backed by The War On Drugs for a cover of Warren Zevon’s ‘Play It All Night Long’, which originally appeared on Zevon’s 1980 album ‘Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School’. John Hiatt’s ‘Walk On’ – from his 1995 album of the same name – was next on the setlist.
For their final track together – a cover of Bob Seger‘s ‘Against The Wind’ – Finn and The War On Drugs enlisted fellow guest Matt Lowell, lead vocalist for LA band Lo Moon. Watch footage from the concert below.
The rest of The War On Drugs’ setlist for the evening largely consisted of cuts from their 2014 album ‘Lost In The Dream’ along with last year’s ‘I Don’t Live Here Anymore’.
Prior to their Drugcember To Remember concerts, The War On Drugs had performed songs from ‘I Don’t Live Here Anymore’ on a handful of occasions, including on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in January and as part of a Tiny Desk Concert in November 2021. The deluxe version of ‘I Don’t Live Here Anymore’ was released in September.
Speaking of the inspiration behind ‘I Don’t Live Here Anymore’ in a 2021 interview with NME, The War On Drugs frontman Adam Granduciel said: “We’re inspired by a million artists that we see. We grew up going to shows, seeing all these killer bands, then you end up playing a show with them or you end up meeting them and it’s all part of it. It’s about being inspired by the other things that are happening.”
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Tom Disalvo
NME
