Steve Albini Way Unveiled In Chicago: Watch Kim Deal Speak, Mekons & Jeff Tweedy Perform

In July, a celebration for the late Steve Albini took place in Chicago in honor of the legendary engineer and musician’s birthday. It was revealed a street in the city would be renamed after him, and that became official today when Steve Albini Way was unveiled at the corner of W Belmont Ave and N Rockwell St, near Albini’s famous Electrical Audio. The ceremony featured a speech from Kim Deal as well as performances from the Mekons and Jeff Tweedy, as per Brooklyn Vegan.

“He was a flawed human; he would contradict himself in two sentences,” Deal, who just released her new solo album Nobody Loves You More, said. “But at his core he understood the value of each person. Well, not each person. If you were a bully, he wouldn’t like you at all. Maybe he stuck up for people too hard. He wanted to stick up for the underdogs… He really didn’t like ‘winners.’ I think he liked people with a good, healthy dose of low self esteem.”

“I think he thought that the music business was exciting, and I don’t think he’d like that I said that,” she continued.

Jeff Tweedy teamed up with the Mekons’ Jon Langford and Sally Timms plus Fred Armisen for Gang Of Four’s “Armalite Rifle” and “Anthrax,” as well as the Mekons’ “Now We Have The Bomb” and “Where Were You?” Watch the event below.