Pete Yorn is currently on an acoustic tour of the U.S. in advance of the release of his new record in August. I was at the show on Saturday night in Buffalo and he played a rock version of There is a Light... with him on acoustic guitar and a full band backing. It was great... and got a very enthusiastic response from the crowd (the whole audience cheered loudly for what seemed like five minutes!)

He is a well-documented fan of the Smiths and his version of Panic is already available on the bonus disc for his first album Music for the Morning After and on a live album.

Of note is the approach that he is taking to this intimate tour. He is playing all of the hits, his most popular covers and only about three new songs... he played for two solid hours on Saturday night with a six song encore.

Admittedly his back catalogue is much smaller than The Smiths/Morrissey... but I can tell you from this experience that a full on greatest hits tour from Moz would be amazing (which goes without saying!... and this approach had the added benefit of really pumping up the crowd to check out the new material.

I know that he's touring in support of the new material... but I think this approach would work to increase sales of the new record.