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Jun 13, 2023 By Kat Ramkumar Photography by Pooneh Ghana

Indie folk trailblazers, Fleet Foxes have released covers of The Strokes’ “Under Control” featuring Uwade taped live at Forest Hills Stadium and Joni Mitchell’s “Hejira” featuring Daniel Rossen and Greg Pecknold, frontman Robin Pecknold’s father, taped live at The Spring Recital at The Belasco. These covers, featuring horns by recent collaborators, The Westerlies, have been released on Bandcamp to celebrate the kickoff of their North American tour this evening in Cleveland. Listen to the tracks below.

On “Under Control,” Robin Pecknold says in a press release: “Last summer we were honored to have the incredible vocalist and songwriter Uwade Akhere open for us on tour. One thing we all bonded over backstage was a shared love of The Strokes—hearing Uwa’s voice echoing down the halls as she sang ‘The End Has No End’ or ‘Reptilia’ was always a highlight of the day. Considering this, I thought she might get a kick out of singing ‘Under Control’ with us and the Westerlies at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in Queens, so we pulled it together at soundcheck and asked her—it was amazing! She ruled it. Thank you Uwade!”

On “Hejira,” Pecknold says in a press release: “My father built bass guitars and played in bands in his 20s and 30s in the Northwest; his dream was to be Joni Mitchell’s bassist, like the great Jaco Pastorius. Right before our surprise show with Joanna Newsom in March, I bought back for him one of the fretless basses he had made in the ’80s, and I thought it would be sweet for us to play ‘Hejira’ together, on the same bill as Joanna, the Joni of our time. It was also an honor to be joined by Daniel Rossen for this, one of the greatest musicians of the last 20 years. Thank you, Dan and Dad!”

Fleet Foxes’ North American tour starts tonight, and they will be making appearances at Bonnaroo, Halifax, and co-headline with My Morning Jacket in August.

Fleet Foxes recently released a single, “A Sky Like I’ve Never Seen” featuring Tim Bernardes for Amazon documentary Wildcat and it was one of our Songs of the Week.

Check out our 2018 interview with Pecknold on the band’s third studio album Crack-Up.

Fleet Foxes Tour Dates:

06-13 Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theater*
06-14 Grand Rapids, MI @ GLC Live at 20 Monroe*
06-16 Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo
06-17 St. Louis, MO @ The Factory*
06-18 Louisville, KY @ Old Forester’s Paristown Hall*
06-20 New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall*
06-21 Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE*
06-23 Asheville, NC @ Rabbit Rabbit*
06-24 Charleston, SC @ Firefly Distillery*
06-25 Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live*
06-27 Birmingham, AL @ Avondale Brewing*
06-28 New Orleans, LA @ The Fillmore*
06-30 Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom*
07-01 Kansas City, MO @ The Midland Theatre*
07-02 Omaha, NE @ Steelhouse Omaha*
07-04 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue*
07-09 Indianapolis, IN @ The Murat Theatre at Old National Centre*
07-11 Portland, ME @ Thompson’s Point*
07-12 LaFayette, NY @ Beak & Skiff*
07-16 Halifax, NS @ Halifax Jazz Festival
08-18 Berkeley, CA @ The Greek Theatre ^^
08-19 Berkeley, CA @ The Greek Theatre ^^
08-20 Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl ^^
08-22 Paso Robles, CA @ Vina Robles Amphitheatre*
08-24 Portland, OR @ Pioneer Courthouse Square*
08-25 Port Townsend, WA @ Thing Festival
11-17 Mexico City, MX @ Corona Capital

*with Uwade
^^ Co-headline with My Morning Jacket

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