Yo La Tengo Wrap Up Hanukkah Residency with Jeff Tweedy, Lucinda Williams, Susanna Hoffs, Florry, Jon Benjamin and More

Yo La Tengo concluded their annual Hanukkah residency over the weekend with the final three stagings of an eight-night run at New York’s Bowery Ballroom. The indie trio’s latest holiday celebration had already included some unforgettable crossovers, including guest spots from Matt Berninger, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Sun Ra Arkestra, Built to Spill, Norah Jones, This Is Lorelei and Scrawl, and their last lap went above and beyond high expectations with nightly surprises from icons of music and comedy.

On Friday, the sixth show in Yo La Tengo’s holiday series commenced with an appearance from the great Jeff Tweedy, accompanied by his sons Spencer and Sammy. Tweedy spoke to the fact that he’s been getting comfortable in New York this year, following shows on Golden Smog’s reunion tour and supporting his fifth solo studio album, Twilight Override, and referred to the stripped-down family set at the public debut of The Raccoonists. The signer-songwriter and returning Hanukkah guest offered up 10 solo originals, including seven from his latest release and second live treatments of “Too Real” and “Throwaway Lines” to date, then cleared the stage for stand-up from comedian, actor and three-time Hanukkah guest Jo Firetone

Yo La Tengo took the stage for their set in the company of the Tweedys, who remained in the mix for the remainder of Friday’s show. The headline set began with Popular Songs standout “More Stars Than There Are in Heaven” and touched on 2025’s first versions of “The Lie and How We Told It” and “The Race Is On Again” and covers of Bob Dylan’s “Love Minus Zero/No Limit,” “George McCrae’s “You Can Have It All” and Tweedy and Mavis Staples’ “You Are Not Alone” before a closing take on “I Heard You Looking.” For their encore, the ensemble offered up five Herman’s Hermits covers, beginning with “I’m Into Something Good” and ending on a debut of “My Reservation’s Been Confirmed.”

Saturday’s penultimate show started up with Americana legend Lucinda Williams, whose exhilarating performance included three cuts from her forthcoming 16th studio album World’s Gone Wrong, including “Low Life,” “We’ve Come Too Far To Turn Around” and the title track. At the non-musical intermission, attendees were treated to a set from Al Madrigal, co-founder of the All Things Comedy podcast network and former Daily Show correspondent.

Yo La Tengo continued a long history of collaboration with David Mansfield by welcoming the storied string master for a full-set guest spot, bolstering their tight trio sound with soaring violin and pedal steel. From the intro of And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside‐Out cut “Night Falls on Hoboken,” the band bolted through fan-favorites and rarities like “The Ballad of Red Buckets,” “I Feel Like Going Home,” “One PM Again,” “The Way Some People Die,” “I’ll Be Around,” “We’re an American Band,” “The Story of Yo La Tango,” 2025’s first “Super Kiwi” and a set-closing “Our Way to Fall.” YLT and Mansfield commenced their encore with a ripping rendition of Richard Hell & the Voidoid’s “Love Comes in Spurts,” then called Williams back to the stage for Ohio Express’ “Yummy, Yummy, Yummy,” her own “Tears Are in Your Eyes” and finally the Velvet Underground’s “Pale Blue Eyes.”

On Sunday, Yo La Tengo lit the last candle on their menorah and set off the last show in another memorable Hanukkah series with an opening engagement from Florry. The rising Philadelphia-based indie-country act gave an eclectic and intimate performance that charmingly reflected YLT’s homespun roots and showcased some standouts from their celebrated third studio album, Sounds Like… The residency’s final stand-up set came from actor and comedian Jon Benjamin, whose support for the series dates back to 2002.

Yo La Tengo’s Sunday show was amplified by a horn section of returning Hanukkah guests, with CJ Camerieri, Mike McGinnis and Cheryl Kingan respectively adding trumpet, saxophone and baritone saxophone. The brass trio brought new depth to the opening cover of Al Johnson’s “Carnival Time” – lyrics changed to “Hanukkah time” – and through 2025’s first versions of “Eight Candles” and “Swing for Life.” After supporting “Before We Run,” the guests rotated out to make way for fiddlers Peter Stampfel and Stephanie Coleman on covers of Michael Hurley’s “Hog of the Forsaken” and “Polynesia #1.”

Yo La Tengo’s accompanists peeled off for the last movement, leaving Ira Kaplan, Georgia Hubley and James McNew to turn in tight treatments of “Cherry Chapstick,” “Fallout,” “Styles of the Times,” “Upside-Down” and “Blue Line Swinger.” To cap off the run, the band returned to the spotlight for another all-covers encore, this time tapping The Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs for Bob Dylan’s “I’ll Keep It With Mine,” Simon & Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson,” The Grass Roots’ “Things I Should Have Said” and her own band’s “In Your Room.” At long last, the final night returned to a long-running tradition by welcoming Ira Kaplan’s mother Marilyn to lead treatments of The Holy Modal Rounders’ “Griselda” and a full-company grand finale of Anita Bryant’s “My Little Corner of the World.”

Read the complete setlists from Yo La Tengo’s Hanukkah residency via Jesse Jarnow here.