After bringing out Kevin Devine at The Fillmore in their Philly hometown on Friday (8/19), mewithoutYou returned to the venue the following night (8/20) for their very last show before breaking up. They changed the setlist considerably from night one, hitting songs from all throughout their career, and they did a 32-song set, two encores included. They had a few guests in tow, including Norma Jean/The Chariot/'68's Josh Scogin joining them for a medley of "Messes of Men" and the Norma Jean/Aaron Weiss collab "Memphis Will Be Laid to Waste" (as he did a few other times on this tour), The Psalters' Scotty Kruger joining for the guest vocals that he contributed to the album version of "Four Word Letter (Pt. Two)," and former, 2000s-era guitarist Chris Kleinberg reuniting with the band for their final song, "In A Sweater Poorly Knit," which also had several of the band's family members dancing with them on stage, as the backdrop behind the band changed from saying "farewell" to saying "better luck next time," a lyric from "9:27A.M., 7/29." Watch videos of those three appearances and a few other songs, and check out the full setlist below.
Now that the band's end is official, fellow musicians have also been posting tributes to the band. Touche Amore's Jeremy Bolm wrote one earlier this year after joining them on stage in LA, and now La Dispute, who have been compared to mewithoutYou many times over the years, had this to say:
Might never have been a band without mewithoutYou, at least not this band. Resisted the comparison for ages but it’s the truth. Incredible band, incredible people. We owe a debt, all of us. mewithoutYou forever.
Myself especially. Aaron’s presence on stage was a revelation to me, watching him throw flowers in the crowd the first time I saw them play twenty odd years ago. Gave me the confidence to embrace what voice I had, to be on stage, to speak loudly and into a microphone.
To say nothing of the band as a whole, or the people in it. Might never get the credit they deserve but beneath so many bands there’s a mwY thread hidden. We owe them a debt for that. And I’m so sad to see it end but life is so much richer for having had them in it for so long.
Read some other tributes below the videos...
mewithoutYou @ The Fillmore - 8/20/22 (Final Show) Setlist (via) Pale Horse Bullet to Binary Nice and Blue Paper Hanger East Enders Wives Fox's Dream of the Log Flume Red Cow Dorothy Wolf Am I! (And Shadow) Elephant in the Dock Goodbye, I! [dormouse sighs] The Soviet A Glass Can Only Spill What It Contains The King Beetle on a Coconut Estate Nine Stories Nice and Blue (Pt. Two) Four Word Letter (Pt. Two) (with Scotty Kruger) C-Minor Bethlehem, WV We Know Who Our Enemies Are Mexican War Streets Julia (or, 'Holy to the LORD' on the Bells of Horses) Son of a Widow (with "Julian the Onion" intro)
Encore: Break on Through (to the Other Side) [Pt. Two] (Aaron solo acoustic) Cardiff Giant (Aaron solo acoustic) The Fox, the Crow, and the Cookie (Aaron solo acoustic, full band joins during bridge) Messes of Men (with Josh Scogin) (with a snippet of Norma Jean' s "Memphis Will Be Laid to Waste") January 1979 Torches Together
Encore 2: All Circles In a Sweater Poorly Knit (with Chris Kleinberg and several of the band's family members)
