OPO: Mekons

"last dance" is a good choice, though.

Where Were You : 16
Chivalry: 9
Trimdon Grange Explosion 8
Last Dance 6
Learning To Live On Your Own 4
Memphis Egypt: 4
Snow: 4
The Building: 6
I Am Crazy: 4
Hard To Be Human Again: 3
Hole in the ground 2
Fight The Cuts: 2
Millionaire: 2
Dan Dare: 2
If They Hang You: 2
Last Night On Earth: 1
King Arthur: 1
Big Zombie: 1
Ghosts of American Astronauts: 1

Nothing at all from Curse... you folks are weird!

Though it's tough not to vote for "Thee Olde Trip To Jerusalem," "Slightly South of the Border," or "Bob Hope and Charity."

almost split my ballot for that one...

Where Were You: 26
Chivalry: 13
Last Dance: 12
Hard To Be Human Again: 9
Trimdon Grange Explosion: 8
Snow: 8
Memphis Egypt: 7
The Building: 6
Never Been In A Riot: 5
Ghosts of American Astronauts: 4
I Am Crazy: 4
Learning To Live On Your Own 4
Orpheus: 4
Brutal: 4
The Curse: 4
Millionaire: 3
Hole in the ground 2
Fight The Cuts: 2
Dan Dare: 2
If They Hang You: 2
Trouble Down South: 2
Letter’s In The Post: 2
Not A Bitter Man: 2
Darkness and Doubt: 2
Chop That Child In Half: 2
Last Night On Earth: 1
King Arthur: 2
Big Zombie: 1
Hello Cruel World: 1
Rescue Mission: 1
Garage D’or: 1
Psycho Cupid: 1
I’ll Have To Dance Then On My Own: 1
Only You And Your Ghost Will Know: 1
Blow Your Tuneless Trumpet: 1
Funeral: 1
Revenge: 1
Oblivion: 1
Fantastic Voyage: 1

Langford is at S x SW this weekend.

Mekons are gonna do a Tiny Desk sometime during or after their May and June US tour

Again? They just did one last year.

Oops, I misread the Instagram post that said they were following the last US tour and Tiny Desk, with another US tour

Wonder if Lu will be on the upcoming tour ...

PiL announced that they're going to announce (hah) dates for a North American tour this year, and Lu's in the photo they posted, so I'm guessing no. I wish he was touring with the Mekons, but I think they're likely to leave the door open while Lydon would likely just hire a permanent replacement.

Amend that, they announced a CRUISE tour and

also said "Keep an eye out for more PiL North American shows" (apologies, accidentally hit "post")

Post here.

And I got the year wrong, hah, so I guess he may tour with the Mekons after all?

the choice between hanging out with the Mekons and hanging out with John Lydon is a pretty easy one tbh

oh hey cool

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"I'm on this cruise for the buffet, not Johnny."

now that I could see

Looks like the PiL tour starts in September, so ... maybe?

https://outsideleft.com/main.php?story=the-mekons-the-outsideleft-sunday-interview

Interesting interview with Tom there . They have a bunch of projects going on and coming up. His talk about the past spelled out a few things for me to.

There’s a new Mekons song out with Sally on vocals that will be on the Tony Maimone done dub like remix album coming in June when they tour the US again

https://www.firerecords.com/mekons-reveal-new-single-before-the-ice-age-from-their-new-album-horrorble-mekons-vs-tony-maimone-in-dub-conference/

A good recollection of "Where Were You?" here.

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/may/25/bowie-t-rex-couldnt-the-mekons-on-how-they-made-where-were-you

That said, I've seen this happen a lot with the Guardian lately, where there is a pull-quote in the headline that's different from the one on the body. In this case, the pull-quote is

It was the total opposite of that “It’s Friday night, let’s have sex” macho mentality that was in most rock music at the time’

Where Were You? was the total opposite of that “It’s Friday night, let’s shag” macho mentality that was in most rock music at the time.

"let's have sex" to make it more international?

I stumbled across the Me (MEkons) album recently and tried it out. It’s really good! They’re one of those bands where I’ll pick up their stuff occasionally out of a sense of obligation and then I’m surprised by how much I like it.

yep I was very late to that one and I love it

Two concerts today, one early, one late. Two concerts next weekend in New York City, one earlier, one late. I am all in on the Mekons! Even bought a special t-shirt. Maybe it is nostalgia, maybe it is mortality, but this is one of those bands I have loved so long and I know they cannot do it forever.

case in point, tom apparently just had surgery for something, so isn't here!

They've got ANOTHER gig in NYC, this time in Brooklyn on (Sunday) June 14, but it's a bit different - I think they're backing David Nagler but I'm not sure what the setlist will be. Could be sea shanties or maybe that's a joke on their advertisement? And it takes place in a bar right above one of the nicest steakhouses in Brooklyn - it actually threw me for a second because I know the steakhouse but not the bar and wondered how they were going to play in a place that was uncharacteristically posh for a rock show?

Actually seafood AND steak, but I just remember the steaks being amazing.

Not least because Tom wasn't there they played some deep cuts, btw. Like "I Am Crazy" from "Rock 'n' Roll." Susie sang "Last Dance."

xp they played Sunken Harbor last year with Nagler as well, but didn't learn about it until after the fact. that said sea shanties as well. hopefully we'll still get a Sally and Jon show at Good Fork again in the near future.

Interesting observation in some newsletter:

It’s also worth mentioning Langford’s extended universe of projects solo and with the Three Johns, Waco Brothers, Men of Gwent, Pine Valley Cosmonauts, et al. because between them, no one person has had their work A-listed by legendary music critic Robert Christgau more times at 25 instances, not even Neil Young (23), Willie Nelson, or Bob Dylan (tied with 18 apiece). And yet the favorite of his fellow legendary music critic Greil Marcus (2000’s Journey to the End of the Night) isn’t even among those 25.

I saw the Mekons in Baltimore last night. A good show although Tom Greenhalgh wasn’t there. Sally said that at the last minute Tom couldn’t make it but he is fine. Jon and Sally both noted that Rico would be busier and handling some of Tom’s spots and he was .

They had a special mic thing to dub echo voices on a few tracks ala the dub version of the Horror album.

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-mekons/2026/ottobar-baltimore-md-13752171.html

Mekons did 4 songs from Horror and 3 from that Griel Marcus fave Journey last night in Baltimore

I recall being disappointed in Journey: Langford bragged about using ProTools, which was maybe it sounded finicky and disheveled, like he was picking at old piles of underwear. Did kind of like that Kelly and Niko sounded like Children of the Air Ducts, keening through digital metallic spaces, but that was mostly background.

which was maybe *why* it sounded

Mekons make some of those Journey to the End of Night songs work well live now. Plus lots of between song chatter as always. Langford last night dismissed ai, made jokes about fans being more attracted to Rico and compared Rico's appearance to a French actor, condemned the "racist administration," referenced old poets, and chimed in also regarding part of Ohio near where their Cleveland gig was.

My two favorites from last night in Rhode Island. No Tom Greenhalgh, unfortunately. Susie Honeyman was wearing a Scotland football jersey and kept checking the score during their set. (Her team won, 1-0).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtrhUfZP2FE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W47mMJqQpbM

I went to the sea shanty thing and it was a lot of fun! It was also cool mingling with the band beforehand, but the most awkward part was when I scanned the room and saw Ira and Georgia of Yo La Tengo sitting right in front of me. (This wasn't a very wide space, so they were maybe five feet away from me.) Ira was locked in conversation with someone but Georgia immediately picked up that I recognized them and just smiled and waved, and I was like "I'm a really big fan, I love Yo La Tengo!" After she nodded thanks, I left them alone, but that was the first time I said anything to them after running into them at about a dozen different events over the years. (The band actually played a surprise show the day before in Brooklyn, I'm guessing before the Knicks game.)

A friend of mine met Jon, Sally, Ira and Georgia at a Brooklyn party last year, they might go way back. I assume there has been some Mekon representation at one of the Hanukkah shows over the years.

I was talking to someone after the early Mercury Lounge show while we were waiting out the rain. He was selling his ticket to the late show, and when I asked him why he said he was really disappointed with the early set, and acted as if the absence of Tom totally threw everything off, and the band was somehow greatly diminished. I was a bit surprised, because yeah, the band is better with Tom (I'd seen them without Tom a few times before), but Jon, Sally and Rico offer plenty!

Would have been nice to be at those bonus shows, but had to get home, and was feeling a tad bit Mekon-ed out, tbh, hah.

Weird. To be fair, I saw a different kind of show, but yeah, Jon, Sally and Rico DO offer plenty! And of course Susie and Steve, but Steve didn't even have a drum kit - he was there mostly for the boisterous vocals which fit the sea shanty vibe very well.

Oh, and Dave too! He actually sung lead on a couple of numbers where it was just him, Rico and Nagler, and they were great.

Saw Jon Langford and Kelly Hogan do a nice house show last night in DC billed as "Hogford." And the night before I saw Kelly Hogan sing also, at first without realizing it, she was one of Mavis Staples backup singers at Wolf Trap amphitheater, in Virginia near DC. She's part of Staple's group now and had previously backed Neko Case, and the Decemberists.

They did songs from Langford's catalogue, covers & a few originals from Hogan. Langford played an acoustic guitar. There was a strong folkie aspect, but some songs were more energetic. Lots of entertaining chatter in between songs. They did one new song they wrote together, plus Mekons "Dickie, Chalkie, & Nobbie (2007), "Tina (it looks like an accident)", "Drone Operator " (from Langford's album w/ Skull Orchard), Bob Wills "Drunkard Blues, Kevin Coyne "God Watches," Waco Brothers "Walking on Hell's Roof Looking at the Flowers", Waco Brothers "Plenty tough- Union Made" , Langford's "Pill Sailor," Kelly Hogan song "Golden" and a few more.

I <3 Kelly Hogan and her old band The Jody Grind is well worth yr time

Hogan and Langford were both so friendly and chatting with whomever stuck around after the gig.

Hogan was touting a different old Georgia band of hers - the Rock-a-Teens, and mentioning that she and Langford will be down in Atlanta for a few days or so performing as part of an event put together by Henry Owings (Chunklet zine fame) and his wife Stephanie Quinn Jackson for "Cabbagetown ’76: The Photographs of Barbara McKenzie"

https://www.artsatl.org/cabbagetown-76-documents-atlantas-past-in-never-before-seen-photographs-by-barbara-mckenzie/

Langford produced Hogan and the Pine Valley Cosmonauts' Beneath The Country Underdog(which made my P&J ballot). When he comes in on their cover of The Band's "Whispering Pines," it's worth waiting for:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlgZedLDSkA

Oops, should have checked this Band site's fuller credits for that track:

Featuring vocals from Edith Frost and Jon Langford. Special "Where's Waldo" vocals from Ana Egge.

Jon Langford's former group The Mekons covered The Band songs on their albums F.U.N.90 and New York, and Langford also produced ex-Mekon Rico Bell's cover of "Acadian Driftwood" on The Return of Rico Bell.

The Pine Valley Cosmonauts are Andy Hopkins (guitar), Jon Langford (guitar), Steve Goulding (drums), Tom Ray (bass), Jon Rauhouse (pedal steel) and "Celine" aka John Rice (guitar, mandolin, fiddle.) Special imported keyboards on tracks 3, 8, 10, and 11 by Barcley McKay (he's played with The Pretty Things and The Mekons) on Hammond B-3 organ and piano. Robert Lloyd, multi-instrumentalist from John Wesley Harding's band played piano on tracks 5 and 10

My other fave from this alb, my all-time fave Hogan (so far): "Papa Was A Rodeo," which I believe she said she got Merritt to let her cover before the Mag Fields original came out:
https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=Kelly+Hogan+and+the+Pine+Valley+Cosmonauts+Papa+Was+A+Rodeo&mid=C82A74D0F4341661E9D6C82A74D0F4341661E9D6&churl=https%3a%2f%2fwww.youtube.com%2fchannel%2fUCEqbISDHXCQfiLuxSFvxUSA&FORM=VIRE

weird--link works though.

I've always liked this ... however you describe this sound cover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1zjFAMKEzA

I'm seeing them this Friday in London. They've just done a series of gigs in Portmeirion - looking at the photos, it seems that Tom wasn't there. Don't think he was at the American ones earlier this year either?

He was a no-show when I saw them in Rhode Island.

I was in Portmeirion, was an amazing time but Tom wasn’t there, they said they were very sad he couldn’t make it and were hoping for brighter things next year. No details but i had the impression he’s dealing with health problems.

Tom's been out since this summer - they said he had surgery, but I don't think they specified what it was. I hope he's doing all right, I saw him when they played the Bowery Ballroom (I posted about it then - Christgau also reviewed it) and he was in great spirits - looked like he was in good health too.

They did a good cover of "Wild and Blue," with Sally singing lead---RIP John Anderson:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc-6rSEjeYE

Such a beautiful song.