“I am here to prove I can ruin any genre,” Conan O’Brien told the Newport Folk Festival crowd on Sunday for his set, which closed out the 2024 edition of the festival. The comedian, writer, former Late Night host and currently podcaster was not at Newport to do a live taping of Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, but to bring out his musical friends for a set dubbed “Conan O’Brien & Real Musicians.”
Jack White, who is suddenly busier than anyone expected he would be two weeks ago (and who played Nashville the previous night), was the final surprise guest of the set, and he and Conan perform “We’re Going to Be Friends,” which is Conan’s podcast theme song, and then stuck around for a rendition of Eddie Cochran’s “Twenty Flight Rock.”
Before that, Conan had welcomed Dawes and Langhorn Slim, Nick Lowe came out to play his hits “So It Goes” and “Cruel to Be Kind,” Brittany Howard came out for Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love,” Nathaniel Rateliff joined for covers of Fred Neil’s “Everybody’s Talking” and the Stones’ “Let it Bleed,” and Mavis Staples came out for The Staples Singers classic “I’ll Take You There.” Triumph the Insult Comic Dog was also on hand to sing an original about how bad Conan is at telling stories.
Conan closed out Newport with a cover of the traditional “Midnight Special” featuring loads of guests from the day for a big singalong finish. Check out video of Conan with Jack White and Nathaniel Rateliff, and the setlist, below.
We’ll have lots more from Newport 2024, stay tuned.
SETLIST: Conan O’Brien & Friends at Newport Folk Fest 7/28/2024 (via)
Forty Days (Ronnie Hawkins cover) (with Dawes)
Ramblin’ Man (The Allman Brothers Band cover)
Found My Heart (Langhorne Slim & The Law cover) (with Langhorne Slim)
So It Goes (Nick Lowe cover) (with Nick Lowe)
Cruel to Be Kind (Brinsley Schwarz cover) (with Nick Lowe)
Buckets of Rain (Bob Dylan cover)
Come and Get Your Love (Redbone cover) (with Brittany Howard)
Everybody’s Talkin’ (Fred Neil cover) (with Nathaniel Rateliff)
Let It Bleed (The Rolling Stones cover) (with Nathaniel Rateliff)
I’ll Take You There (The Staple Singers cover) (with Mavis Staples)
We’re Going to Be Friends (The White Stripes cover) (with Jack White)
Twenty Flight Rock (Eddie Cochran cover) (with Jack White)
Midnight Special ([traditional] cover)