The Newport Folk Festival has often played host to jaw-dropping surprise performances, none more than Joni Mitchell’s first proper concert in more than 20 years in 2022. The tradition continued there yesterday (July 26), as Beck played an unannounced afternoon full-band set on the Quad Stage with a set list paying tribute to the event’s musical roots.
Having recently begun a tour backed by a huge orchestra, Beck was very much alone on stage yesterday and opened, appropriately, with a cover of “Maggie’s Farm” by Bob Dylan, whose decision to “go electric” at Newport in 1965 remains one of the most significant moments in rock history. From there, he performed material by roots legends such as Fred Neil (“The Other Side of This Life”), Jimmie Rodgers (“Waiting for a Train”) and Blind Willie Johnson (“God Moves on the Water”) as well as the traditionals “John Hardy” and “Stag’ Lee.”
With those out of his system, Beck wrapped the 10-song performance with his own “The Golden Age,” “Lost Cause,” “One Foot in the Grave” and “Loser.” The artist’s symphonic shows continue tonight at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Va.
In other Newport Folk Festival news, Hozier welcomed Mavis Staples, Joan Baez, Allison Russell, Nathaniel Rateliff and the members of the Lumineers for a cover of the Band’s “The Weight” during his set. Many of those musicians then remained on the stage for a set-closing rendition of Baez’s “We Shall Overcome.”
