Beck Brings ‘Waking Light’ to ‘Tonight’

Beck brought a crack-of-dawn clarity to the Tonight Show on Wednesday night when he performed the lush, slow-burner “Waking Light” off his latest album Monrning Phase. The musician also stuck around for an extra song, trading acoustic riffs with his band on the banjo-tinged, “Say Goodbye,” which you can watch below.

This is Beck’s second stop at Rockefeller Center this month after he made his seventh appearance as musical guest on Saturday Night Live a few weeks back, playing “Blue Moon” and “Wave.”

See where Beck’s ‘Sea Change’ ranks on our list of the 100 best albums of the 2000s

Beck is scheduled to hit the road in support of Morning Phase this spring and summer. He’s got a handful of dates in April lined up around his appearance at this year’s Coachella festival, and he kicks off another tour at Cleveland, Ohio’s State Theatre on June 19th. Along with a handful of theater shows, Beck’s scheduled to hit the Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Delaware (June 21st – 22nd), the Forecastle Festival in Louisville Kentucky (July 19th – 20th) and also play at a show in New York City’s Central Park.

Morning Phase is Beck’s first full length LP since 2008’s Modern Guilt, though it does follow Song Reader, a collection of new tunes released in 2012 as a book of sheet music. For Morning Phase, Beck reunited with many of the same musicians who helped him record his 2002 album Sea Change, including his father, David Campbell, who helped out with brass and string arrangements. Along with Morning Phase, Beck said he might release another project later this year, “time willing,” which he made with Pharrell Williams and other high-profile collaborators.