The Lemonheads Jam With Jimmy Fallon at First Late Night Gig Since ’96

The Lemonheads aren’t the usual sort of musical act to land a booking on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2026. The norm is Madison Beer, Ty Myers, Sienna Spiro, and the other Gen Z-friendly artists they’ve featured in recent weeks. And One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson is coming up on Friday.

But for reasons we’re not going to question since we’re very happy that it took place, Evan Dando’s newest iteration of the Lemonheads played two songs on the Jan. 20 episode, and Fallon even joined them on vocals for one of them.

“Our next guests are here with a tribute to the late rock icon Roky Erickson,” an amped-up Fallon told viewers, “performing Roky from their new album Love Chant, the Lemonheads!” The studio audience cheered enthusiastically even though the vast majority of them have likely never heard of Erickson, and probably have only a dim memory of the Lemonheads due to their 1992 cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Mrs Robinson.” 

To be fair, some of the cooler middle-aged dudes in the crowd may have bought It’s a Shame About Ray that same year. And Fallon was clearly one of them, since he jumped onstage and helped them sing “My Drug Buddy” from that landmark alt-rock LP. “Unbelievable!” Fallon gushed at the end. “I’m honored. The Lemonheads! That’s how you do it, right there!” 

According to Stereogum, this was the first late night booking for the Lemonheads since they played Late Night With Conan O’Brien in 1996. Dando did play solo on Last Call With Carson Daly in 2003, but that doesn’t really count.

The Lemonheads perform Wednesday night at Lucinda’s in New York City, and July 10 at Red Rocks in Morrison, Colorado, before heading over to England in late September for a run of shows all over the country.

If Fallon wants to keep booking the great unsung bands of his teenage years, we recommend that he continue with Sebadoh, Buffalo Tom, the Afghan Whigs, and Superchunk. Maybe after that, he can dial it back to his childhood and call up Dramarama, Camper Van Beethoven, and the Feelies. Late-night talk shows appear to be on their way toward extinction — they might as well go out strong.