Conan O’Brien Played Newport Folk Fest With Jack White, Mavis Staples, Triumph The Insult Comic Dog, & More
This past weekend’s Newport Folk Festival opened with Beck covering Bob Dylan in a surprise set, and it ended with Conan O’Brien playing music with his friends. O’Brien is having a great year, with a new HBO travel show and a a viral Hot Ones episode reminding the world that he’s one of the funniest people around. O’Brien told a few jokes at Newport, but he wasn’t there for that. He was there to play a show.
If you ever spent any time watching Late Night With Conan O’Brien, then you’ve probably seen him bust out the acoustic guitar every so often. Last night, O’Brien served as the closing act of the historic Newport Folk Festival. He was backed up by guitarist Jimmy Vivino, his former bandleader, and by the band Dawes. During his set, O’Brien played a lot of covers, and he brought out a lot of guests. The most notable was probably O’Brien’s old buddy Jack White, who just released his own secret surprise album No Name. (I was once in a music video with both Jack White and Conan O’Brien; I was the taller version of Conan. My invitation must’ve got lost in the mail.)
Jack White came out near the end of Conan O’Brien’s set, and he and O’Brien played the White Stripes’ “We’re Going To Be Friends” and Eddie Cochran’s “Twenty Flight Rock” together. The show also had appearances from Mavis Staples, Brittany Howard, Nick Lowe, Nathaniel Rateliff, Langhorne Slim, and Triumph The Insult Comic Dog, a character who got his start on Late Night. Below, check out some fan footage and O’Brien’s setlist.
SETLIST:
01 “Forty Days” (Ronnie Hawkins cover, with Dawes)
02 “Ramblin’ Man” (The Allman Brothers Band cover)
03 “Found My Heart” (Langhorne Slim & The Law cover, with Langhorne Slim)
04 “So It Goes” (Nick Lowe cover, with Nick Lowe)
05 “Cruel To Be Kind” (Brinsley Schwarz cover, with Nick Lowe)
06 “Buckets Of Rain” (Bob Dylan cover)
07 “Come And Get Your Love” (Redbone cover, with Brittany Howard)
08 “Everybody’s Talkin'” (Fred Neil cover, with Nathaniel Rateliff)
09 “Let It Bleed” (The Rolling Stones cover, with Nathaniel Rateliff)
10 “I’ll Take You There” (The Staple Singers cover, with Mavis Staples)
11 “We’re Going To Be Friends (The White Stripes cover, with Jack White)
12 “Twenty Flight Rock” (Eddie Cochran cover, with Jack White)
13 “Midnight Special” (traditional)
