Tired Eyes at Turf Club (November 12, 2026)

An early start to the night ended up with as long of a line as I have maybe ever been in at Turf Club in St. Paul. Everyone and their uncle (and your oldest uncle at that) seemed to be there and all of that for a Neil Young and Crazy Horse tribute band? Well, I’ve learned the error of my ways after twice seeing Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy absolutely crush it as a R.E.M. cover band, and similarly here, this was an absolutely stacked line up with Rich Mattson (of the Northstars), Alan Sparhawk (of Low), Glenn Mattson (of Lazer Bear) and Kraig Johnson (of Run Westy Run) taking over the stage. With Young’s 81st birthday nearly in the books, this was a fabulous tribute to one of the greats of rock & roll.

The quartet (guitar/vocals, guitar/vocals, bass/vocals, and drums) was ready to roll and if you thought this was going to be some second rate, only the biggest hits evening, boy were you going to be surprised. Lookout Joe was the kickoff and that Vietnam War focused song was fantastically handled with Mattson truly looking the part and sounding pretty great. All three of the vocalists got their moments in lead or harmonies, and when Sparhawk took the mic for Down By the River, it was clear the audience was in good hands with whoever was temporarily playing front man. All three singers hitting on the middle chorus of that song was pretty incredible and the remaining guitar jam there was an intense experience as they built up and it was Sparhawk coming back in on the last verse with a fantastic close. Johnson got his turn at lead vocals on Albequerque and he had a nice Young style timbre that I really appreciated. Sparhawk got to take point on Ohio, and every time I hear that song, the pure venom for that scumbag Nixon is so very palpable. Cowgirl in the Sand had a snarly guitar intro and the instrumentals on that one were hopping and the overall alternating between shorter numbers and longer, more complex musical ones was well sequenced by the band. Don’t Cry No Tears was a fabulous ending song of set one and Mattson’s lead was perfectly played and the underlying music was perfectly on track.

Set two kicked off with Out on the Weekend and we got our first harmonica from Mattson. Johnson was on again for The Loner and I absolutely loved how spot on vocally he was, and the underlying crush of guitar was great on this one. These guys were geared up for the long haul, and On the Beach was another slow build up on the front end and they rolled. Mattson took the most Americana song of Roll Another Number and it had the crowd bouncing along. Get to the middle of set two and you can get the read of both band and crowd, and we were top marks for both. Cinnamon Girl was all thrumming guitars and Tired Eyes was in total control. A guest musician in Craig Pquette got us an outstanding version of Rocking in the Free World, getting a huge cheer from the crowd. They finished the second set with My My, Hey Hey and we had another round of outstanding guitar work. Without ever leaving the stage, we headed into the encore and Tired Eyes was the perfect way to end a long night of rock & roll goodness and was great birthday present to the St. Paul crowd.