SETLIST
1. Lazy Guy (acoustic)
2. Dunk You in the River (acoustic)
3. Pinball Song (acoustic)
4. Barrel Chested
5. Can't Stay Sober
6. That is All
7. I'll Be Damned
8. Stupid Words (new song)
9. Billy Pritchard
10. Engine Joe
11. Front Porch
12. Sister Beams (new song)
13. Gimme Back My Dog
14. Stumblin'
15. Haze of a Drink
16. (I Can Tell) Your Love is Waning
17. Sober Song
18. Placemat Blues
ENCORE
19. Rockin' in the Free World
Great, great show - easily the best of the 4 S-Bone shows I've seen so far. I can't think of better place to see these guys than in a crowded Midwestern bar on a Saturday night. Well, maybe a crowded Texas bar on a Saturday night, but for some reason these guys sound distinctly Midwestern, if not downright Replacement-esque. Indeed, they've been known to refer to these here parts as the "Motherland." Hell, they do up "Can't Hardly Wait" purdy nice (although not quite as nice as Marah does). Anyhoo, it was a deliciously intense, all barrels hittin', rock-with-a-capital R show.
It was our first night out after the horror of last Tuesday and it felt pretty damn good. I had no problem paying for the overpriced beer - several times. The crowd also seemed very enthusiastic and upbeat (and, by the end of the night, pretty juiced up). Brent was quite engaging, if not downright charming, and thanked everybody numerous times for "coming out." At one point he mentioned that they had been going crazy holed up in a hotel room, which I took to mean that this may have been their first show after...
The show itself was pretty much perfect-well paced, very passionate, tight as a drum. The 1-2-3 kick-off punch of the acoustic set worked like a charm (Jess had the banjo smokin'), the 2 new songs sound even better than a few months ago and it was great to hear some "Crow Pot" gems that I'd never heard live before, obviously done in honor of the swell new New West re-release. It was nice to see them available at a reasonable price after the show compared to the high bucks the originals are currently commanding in the collector's market. It's a solid album that deserves to be heard more.
I like the way Brent's songs really grow on you after a spell. They're populated with interesting characters and full of sentiments and emotions that are easy to relate to. He's got a nice eye for detail and narrative structure. His settings and themes are often familiar - lost love, dead-end jobs, alcohol, the saloon as metaphor for life itself-but there's something in most of his songs that prevent them from being trite or corny. The "bar room troubadour" shtick of a lot of what used to be called "alt-country" has almost become a cliché, but Brent's songs transcend the stereotype. Ryan Adams has tried to wander down this path a time or two, but he's never written a song as good as "I'll Be Damned," Haze of a Drink" or "That is All" (whose chorus - "Everything you thought was right is wrong today" - seemed positively eerie in light of recent events).
Saw lots and lots of familiar faces and there was a lot of socializing going on. There was a definite need to bond and connect, to talk or pat somebody on the back, or give up a hug. Large Soul Asylum and Jayhawks contingents were showing up after an outdoor bash out at Canterbury which helped contribute to the almost party-like atmosphere. BTW, the 'hawks gamely soldiered on as a power trio (!!) due to Jen and Steven McCarthy being stranded due to cancelled flights. I asked Perlman if this was a "new direction", and he wryly commented, "No, more like an old direction."
The highlight of the show - and one of the most powerfully emotional moments I've witnessed at a rock show in a long, long time - was the encore. After rippin' it up for 80 minutes or so the band left, appearing to be totally spent. After they ducked downstairs, the crowd very quickly started chanting "U-S-A, U-S-A..." The band stumbled up after a few minutes, Brent commented under his breath, "yeah, we agree" and they launched into a song that, in retrospect, seemed all too obvious - "Rockin' in the Free World." Everybody was jumping up and down, screaming, singing along, completely getting lost in the moment. They absolutely nailed it - rivaling some of the very best versions done by the master himself (Neil's incendiary 1989 SNL version comes immediately to mind, as do the angry, all-too-apropos versions done on the Crazy Horse tour in the Spring of 1991, during the early days of our last War).
There was no way that they could top this, so they didn't even try. A sobering (how's that for irony with these guys?) end to a show that many won't soon forget.
"There's colors on the street
Red, white and blue
People shufflin' their feet
People sleepin' in their shoes
But there's a warnin' sign
on the road ahead
There's a lot of people sayin'
we'd be better off dead
Don't feel like Satan,
but I am to them
So I try to forget it,
any way I can."
Monday, September 17, 2001
Sunday, July 1, 2001
Review: Wilco - First Avenue - 6/30/01
What a difference 24 hours makes...
Wilco wrapped up its second night in Minneapolis - the second show of the
"Kotche" era - with a deliriously long, wild and, at times, devastatingly
powerful concert. Even though many of the same songs were played, things
couldn't have been more different from the first night which, in retrospect,
now seems more like a spirited warm-up show or dress rehearsal. On Friday,
for the most part, the songs were merely *played*. The second night was the
real deal. The boys were noticeably more relaxed and confident, the energy
flowed much better and there was little of the tentativeness that
occasionally (and understandably) reared its head Friday - the end result
was a solid, cohesive piece of live music art that bodes well for the rest
of the year (if not longer). There was a nice "ensemble" feel to many of the
songs that wasn't nearly as noticeable on Friday. The power of the music at
times was almost overwhelming; the crowd's reaction was more intense than
the previous night by several orders of magnitude. Indeed, there was a very
rare third encore (more on that later) that was entirely attributable to the
hysterical crowd response.
Saturday's concert reflected many of the flavors from past tours - Being
There, Summer Teeth, Mermaid Ave. - but, largely due to the new "Yankee
Foxtrot Hotel" material, the 2001 Wilco model looks to be new and improved.
This incarnation of the band is boldly marching down new paths - namely some
excursions into "noise-pop" and experimentalism - while still holding on to
a slew of their best songs from the last 4 years, many of which are
increasingly being fiddled and tinkered with, sometimes drastically so.
Regardless of the many familiar songs on the setlist, this is a band that is
very much alive and well, and looking forward.
Some random thoughts:
* Stepping out onto First Ave. after the show it was obvious that the awful
heat wave here in Mpls had ended - for the first time in a week the temp was
down to 70 degrees. Maybe the tremendous release of energy by the band shook
up the angry weather gods.
* Shades of the "Summer Teeth" tour: things started off with a familiar
1-2-3 punch - a sparse, scary "Via Chicago," followed by "Shot in the Arm"
and "I'm Always in Love" which, BTW, has reverted back to its familiar style
after the "heavy metal" readings from last fall (which I absolutely loved).
* "War on War" was again in the same place. Catchier on every listen,
another killer lyric ("You gotta learn how to die / If you wanna stay
alive") and I noticed that Leroy was on bass and John was playing some cool
acoustic guitar.
* The Wilco debut of "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" was next, so it was
obvious that the new material wasn't going to be relegated to the encore.
The song started off in its usual haunting manner - familiar to those who
heard it on the solo tour - but as the song progressed, things got very
weird, very fast. The dissonance, off-kilter rhythms and just plain general
strangeness that ensued was totally absent from the solo versions for
obvious reasons - as talented as Jeff is, there's only so much noise he can
make with one lil' ol' acoustic guitar. For the first, but definitely not
the last, time the band embarked on a spiraling, noisy rave-up that
indicated that Jeff has maybe listened to "Sister Ray" more than once. The
few people who have heard Jeff's collaboration with Jim O'Rourke at the
Noise Pop 2000 festival (Chicago - 5/14/00) might not be surprised at this
turn of events, but the crowd was pretty much stunned. This quite likely was
the weirdest, most *avant* 5 minutes of Wilco music ever performed on stage.
It will be interesting to see how crowds react to this over the rest of the
tour. Not bad for an "alt-country" band. :)
* A refreshing, at times exquisite, Mermaid Ave. mini-set followed. This
material is obviously important to Jeff and the band, and it shows in the
nearly always interesting performances of these songs. Highlights: Leroy's
electric lead and Jeff's acoustic solo on "Hesitating Beauty" and Jay's
souped-up acoustic 12-string slide work on a blistering "Feed of Man." Even
the epic "Mountain Bed" - Woody's half-century old words sounding very much
like a blueprint for the entire singer-songwriter movement - was
sufficiently compelling to quiet a fairly boisterous crowd.
* At one point somebody yelled out "BEAUTIFUL AND STONED." Jeff, who was
more engaging than Friday, paused and quipped, "well, you got it half
right." Speaking of which, where the hell was "Heavy Metal Drummer," which
was AWOL both nights. The clear crowd fave of all the new songs from the
solo tour was nowhere to be found. Hmmm...
* After the Mermaid Ave. set, Jeff said "we're gonna try and learn to play
some new songs," which was greeted by an encouraging, positive crowd
response. "Ashes of American Flags" and "Kamera" followed - both superb,
both destined to be highlights of the new album. "Ashes" had an ominous
undertow, much more pronounced than the solo versions from this year or the
few Wilco performances from last fall. Jeff was alone on electric guitar,
the song ending with another noisy freak-out. "Kamera" was dominated by
strong keyboard work from Jay and Leroy. For the record, Wilco's "new" sound
is somewhere between the 70-ish guitar rock of "Being There" and the
orchestral flourishes of "Summer Teeth." Also, the organ has moved front and
center, culminating in an honest-to-god "spotlight" organ solo (by Jay) on
"Kamera." Interesting "Kodak" moment: after "Kamera," which has some
seemingly tricky rhythms, Leroy turned to Glenn and delightedly applauded
his work. Aww....
* Not that Wilco is averse to "jamming" (who can forget those seemingly
endless versions of "Kingpin" from the BT tour?) but there were more than a
few times Saturday when you could see things pointing in that direction.
Although I think it will be some time before they receive their official
"Jam Band" credentials, this development could be troubling to some, even
Tweedy himself, whose opinion of the Dead is a matter of public record, his
fine 1999 cover of "Ripple" notwithstanding.
* Side comment: After seeing these two shows, why have I been thinking of
the Faces all weekend?
* After a sweet, samba-like "How to Fight Loneliness" and the ever-popular
"California Stars" (during which Leroy also got his moment in the spotlight
during an organ solo), the main set ended with, yup you guessed it, the
"Red-Eyed and Blue / I Got You" combo. The "divorce" lasted exactly 24
hours; musta been a "trial separation." Strangely, rather than being annoyed
to hear this for the umpteenth time, it instead seemed like the perfect way
to end the main set and the crowd was totally worked up as the band left the
stage. Jay was simply on fire during the finale, as he had been all night.
Not that it's any big news to dedicated Wilco fans, but when Jay is "on,"
the band generally is, too. And Jay was very "on" Saturday.
* After the main set, I realized that we hadn't heard either "Misunderstood"
or "Sunken Treasure" (not to mention any Tupelo material). So, of course, we
got both during the first encore. Both songs were longer and far more
intense than Friday's comparatively restrained versions, especially "Sunken
Treasure," which ended the encore with a ridiculously huge explosion of
noise and chaos - the band is getting quite good (or worse, depending on
your perspective) at the "wall of noise" technique. An intriguing "Jesus,
etc" (again with Jesse Greene on violin) was sandwiched in between the two
BT monsters, providing some much needed relief from the tension.
* The second encore was relatively straight forward but by no means lacking
in excitement. "Reservations" came first - one of Jeff's most touching,
personal songs - just like a nice little sorbet after a big meal. Solid
versions of "Passenger Side" and "Outtasite" followed, both greeted by
ecstatic crowd reactions. "Outtasite" was downright brilliant, as good as it
gets. In many ways, this is the quintessential Wilco song - they've played
it consistently, dating all the way back to their first show in November
1994, and they apparently liked it so much that they recorded it twice for
their best album (and who can forget the video?). By the end, the entire
main floor was bouncing in unison, dripping with sweat and exhaustion.
* It sure felt like the end of the show after "Outtasite." The crowd,
however, had other intentions. After a few minutes the video screen started
coming down, just as the band was coming out of the dressing room. After a
few seconds of confusion, the band trotted out onto the stage and
immediately huddled to ponder the next move. A wilted version of "Forget the
Flowers" followed as the video screen finally went back up. The band's
energy was clearly spent - Jay had a towel wrapped around his head - and
they had a hard time getting out of first gear. The lethargic vibe continued
as the next song began, sounding totally unfamiliar - kinda lounge-y, kinda
hokey, definitely half-ass. What we got was an odd, utterly unrecognizable
version of "Monday," with a completely foreign tempo and melody that very
well could've been made up on the spot. Perhaps they were simply too
exhausted to give the song the high-energy treatment it usually gets. I
immediately thought of similar "retoolings" done by the Replacements, a band
I had seen so many times on the same stage, who often seemed to delight in
treating their back catalog with a perverse, peculiar sense of (dis)respect.
As "Monday" ambled to a strangely subdued conclusion, the familiar opening
notes of "Casino Queen" rang out in the form of yet another wicked "tease"
intro. Thankfully, Jeff's hankering for radical revisionism had ended and
the night ended with this classic Wilco closer. As Dylan once said, "could
this really be the end..." but everybody knew that it was, despite the brief
appearance by one of the cameraman at the side of the stage who elicited a
big whoop when he swung his camera towards the crowd. I don't think there's
any way there could've been another encore unless there was some oxygen
backstage.
* All of YHF's songs were played over the 2 nights except for "Heavy Metal
Drummer" (played many times solo over the last few years), "Pot Kettle
Black" (which was on the solo tour "master" setlist), "Poor Places"
(recently previewed on XRT) and "Radio Cure."
Needless to say, an exciting, exhilarating, fun 2 nights. Jeff said they
might be back in the fall. If the shows are gonna be this good, I don't know
if I can wait. Good thing it's "road trip" season!
SETLIST
1. Via Chicago
2. Shot in the Arm
3. I'm Always in Love
4. War on War
5. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
6. Hesitating Beauty
7. Remember the Mountain Bed
8. Airline to Heaven
9. Feed of Man
10. She's a Jar
11. Ashes of American Flags
12. Kamera
13. How to Fight Loneliness
14. California Stars
15. Red, Eyed and Blue -->
16. I Got You
ENCORE 1
17. Misunderstood
18. Jesus, etc.
19. Sunken Treasure
ENCORE 2
20. Reservations
21. Passenger Side
22. Outtasite (Outtamind)
ENCORE 3
23. Forget the Flowers
24. Monday (weird slow version)
25. Casino Queen
(135m)
Wilco wrapped up its second night in Minneapolis - the second show of the
"Kotche" era - with a deliriously long, wild and, at times, devastatingly
powerful concert. Even though many of the same songs were played, things
couldn't have been more different from the first night which, in retrospect,
now seems more like a spirited warm-up show or dress rehearsal. On Friday,
for the most part, the songs were merely *played*. The second night was the
real deal. The boys were noticeably more relaxed and confident, the energy
flowed much better and there was little of the tentativeness that
occasionally (and understandably) reared its head Friday - the end result
was a solid, cohesive piece of live music art that bodes well for the rest
of the year (if not longer). There was a nice "ensemble" feel to many of the
songs that wasn't nearly as noticeable on Friday. The power of the music at
times was almost overwhelming; the crowd's reaction was more intense than
the previous night by several orders of magnitude. Indeed, there was a very
rare third encore (more on that later) that was entirely attributable to the
hysterical crowd response.
Saturday's concert reflected many of the flavors from past tours - Being
There, Summer Teeth, Mermaid Ave. - but, largely due to the new "Yankee
Foxtrot Hotel" material, the 2001 Wilco model looks to be new and improved.
This incarnation of the band is boldly marching down new paths - namely some
excursions into "noise-pop" and experimentalism - while still holding on to
a slew of their best songs from the last 4 years, many of which are
increasingly being fiddled and tinkered with, sometimes drastically so.
Regardless of the many familiar songs on the setlist, this is a band that is
very much alive and well, and looking forward.
Some random thoughts:
* Stepping out onto First Ave. after the show it was obvious that the awful
heat wave here in Mpls had ended - for the first time in a week the temp was
down to 70 degrees. Maybe the tremendous release of energy by the band shook
up the angry weather gods.
* Shades of the "Summer Teeth" tour: things started off with a familiar
1-2-3 punch - a sparse, scary "Via Chicago," followed by "Shot in the Arm"
and "I'm Always in Love" which, BTW, has reverted back to its familiar style
after the "heavy metal" readings from last fall (which I absolutely loved).
* "War on War" was again in the same place. Catchier on every listen,
another killer lyric ("You gotta learn how to die / If you wanna stay
alive") and I noticed that Leroy was on bass and John was playing some cool
acoustic guitar.
* The Wilco debut of "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" was next, so it was
obvious that the new material wasn't going to be relegated to the encore.
The song started off in its usual haunting manner - familiar to those who
heard it on the solo tour - but as the song progressed, things got very
weird, very fast. The dissonance, off-kilter rhythms and just plain general
strangeness that ensued was totally absent from the solo versions for
obvious reasons - as talented as Jeff is, there's only so much noise he can
make with one lil' ol' acoustic guitar. For the first, but definitely not
the last, time the band embarked on a spiraling, noisy rave-up that
indicated that Jeff has maybe listened to "Sister Ray" more than once. The
few people who have heard Jeff's collaboration with Jim O'Rourke at the
Noise Pop 2000 festival (Chicago - 5/14/00) might not be surprised at this
turn of events, but the crowd was pretty much stunned. This quite likely was
the weirdest, most *avant* 5 minutes of Wilco music ever performed on stage.
It will be interesting to see how crowds react to this over the rest of the
tour. Not bad for an "alt-country" band. :)
* A refreshing, at times exquisite, Mermaid Ave. mini-set followed. This
material is obviously important to Jeff and the band, and it shows in the
nearly always interesting performances of these songs. Highlights: Leroy's
electric lead and Jeff's acoustic solo on "Hesitating Beauty" and Jay's
souped-up acoustic 12-string slide work on a blistering "Feed of Man." Even
the epic "Mountain Bed" - Woody's half-century old words sounding very much
like a blueprint for the entire singer-songwriter movement - was
sufficiently compelling to quiet a fairly boisterous crowd.
* At one point somebody yelled out "BEAUTIFUL AND STONED." Jeff, who was
more engaging than Friday, paused and quipped, "well, you got it half
right." Speaking of which, where the hell was "Heavy Metal Drummer," which
was AWOL both nights. The clear crowd fave of all the new songs from the
solo tour was nowhere to be found. Hmmm...
* After the Mermaid Ave. set, Jeff said "we're gonna try and learn to play
some new songs," which was greeted by an encouraging, positive crowd
response. "Ashes of American Flags" and "Kamera" followed - both superb,
both destined to be highlights of the new album. "Ashes" had an ominous
undertow, much more pronounced than the solo versions from this year or the
few Wilco performances from last fall. Jeff was alone on electric guitar,
the song ending with another noisy freak-out. "Kamera" was dominated by
strong keyboard work from Jay and Leroy. For the record, Wilco's "new" sound
is somewhere between the 70-ish guitar rock of "Being There" and the
orchestral flourishes of "Summer Teeth." Also, the organ has moved front and
center, culminating in an honest-to-god "spotlight" organ solo (by Jay) on
"Kamera." Interesting "Kodak" moment: after "Kamera," which has some
seemingly tricky rhythms, Leroy turned to Glenn and delightedly applauded
his work. Aww....
* Not that Wilco is averse to "jamming" (who can forget those seemingly
endless versions of "Kingpin" from the BT tour?) but there were more than a
few times Saturday when you could see things pointing in that direction.
Although I think it will be some time before they receive their official
"Jam Band" credentials, this development could be troubling to some, even
Tweedy himself, whose opinion of the Dead is a matter of public record, his
fine 1999 cover of "Ripple" notwithstanding.
* Side comment: After seeing these two shows, why have I been thinking of
the Faces all weekend?
* After a sweet, samba-like "How to Fight Loneliness" and the ever-popular
"California Stars" (during which Leroy also got his moment in the spotlight
during an organ solo), the main set ended with, yup you guessed it, the
"Red-Eyed and Blue / I Got You" combo. The "divorce" lasted exactly 24
hours; musta been a "trial separation." Strangely, rather than being annoyed
to hear this for the umpteenth time, it instead seemed like the perfect way
to end the main set and the crowd was totally worked up as the band left the
stage. Jay was simply on fire during the finale, as he had been all night.
Not that it's any big news to dedicated Wilco fans, but when Jay is "on,"
the band generally is, too. And Jay was very "on" Saturday.
* After the main set, I realized that we hadn't heard either "Misunderstood"
or "Sunken Treasure" (not to mention any Tupelo material). So, of course, we
got both during the first encore. Both songs were longer and far more
intense than Friday's comparatively restrained versions, especially "Sunken
Treasure," which ended the encore with a ridiculously huge explosion of
noise and chaos - the band is getting quite good (or worse, depending on
your perspective) at the "wall of noise" technique. An intriguing "Jesus,
etc" (again with Jesse Greene on violin) was sandwiched in between the two
BT monsters, providing some much needed relief from the tension.
* The second encore was relatively straight forward but by no means lacking
in excitement. "Reservations" came first - one of Jeff's most touching,
personal songs - just like a nice little sorbet after a big meal. Solid
versions of "Passenger Side" and "Outtasite" followed, both greeted by
ecstatic crowd reactions. "Outtasite" was downright brilliant, as good as it
gets. In many ways, this is the quintessential Wilco song - they've played
it consistently, dating all the way back to their first show in November
1994, and they apparently liked it so much that they recorded it twice for
their best album (and who can forget the video?). By the end, the entire
main floor was bouncing in unison, dripping with sweat and exhaustion.
* It sure felt like the end of the show after "Outtasite." The crowd,
however, had other intentions. After a few minutes the video screen started
coming down, just as the band was coming out of the dressing room. After a
few seconds of confusion, the band trotted out onto the stage and
immediately huddled to ponder the next move. A wilted version of "Forget the
Flowers" followed as the video screen finally went back up. The band's
energy was clearly spent - Jay had a towel wrapped around his head - and
they had a hard time getting out of first gear. The lethargic vibe continued
as the next song began, sounding totally unfamiliar - kinda lounge-y, kinda
hokey, definitely half-ass. What we got was an odd, utterly unrecognizable
version of "Monday," with a completely foreign tempo and melody that very
well could've been made up on the spot. Perhaps they were simply too
exhausted to give the song the high-energy treatment it usually gets. I
immediately thought of similar "retoolings" done by the Replacements, a band
I had seen so many times on the same stage, who often seemed to delight in
treating their back catalog with a perverse, peculiar sense of (dis)respect.
As "Monday" ambled to a strangely subdued conclusion, the familiar opening
notes of "Casino Queen" rang out in the form of yet another wicked "tease"
intro. Thankfully, Jeff's hankering for radical revisionism had ended and
the night ended with this classic Wilco closer. As Dylan once said, "could
this really be the end..." but everybody knew that it was, despite the brief
appearance by one of the cameraman at the side of the stage who elicited a
big whoop when he swung his camera towards the crowd. I don't think there's
any way there could've been another encore unless there was some oxygen
backstage.
* All of YHF's songs were played over the 2 nights except for "Heavy Metal
Drummer" (played many times solo over the last few years), "Pot Kettle
Black" (which was on the solo tour "master" setlist), "Poor Places"
(recently previewed on XRT) and "Radio Cure."
Needless to say, an exciting, exhilarating, fun 2 nights. Jeff said they
might be back in the fall. If the shows are gonna be this good, I don't know
if I can wait. Good thing it's "road trip" season!
SETLIST
1. Via Chicago
2. Shot in the Arm
3. I'm Always in Love
4. War on War
5. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
6. Hesitating Beauty
7. Remember the Mountain Bed
8. Airline to Heaven
9. Feed of Man
10. She's a Jar
11. Ashes of American Flags
12. Kamera
13. How to Fight Loneliness
14. California Stars
15. Red, Eyed and Blue -->
16. I Got You
ENCORE 1
17. Misunderstood
18. Jesus, etc.
19. Sunken Treasure
ENCORE 2
20. Reservations
21. Passenger Side
22. Outtasite (Outtamind)
ENCORE 3
23. Forget the Flowers
24. Monday (weird slow version)
25. Casino Queen
(135m)
Saturday, June 30, 2001
Review: Wilco - First Avenue - 6/29/01
The Glenn Kotche era officially begins...
Glenn Kotche performed in his first official Wilco concert Friday night in
Minneapolis at a 110 minute show at First Ave that featured plenty of
familiar tunes and a few surprises. On the way home, I was trying to recall
how many times Wilco has appeared at the Ave. and I figured that this was at
least their 14th or 15th appearance there. There was a large, but far from
sold-out crowd, which was a blessing in disguise coming on the 5th straight
day of horrible hot, humid weather. The stage set-up was the same as the
last few tours, although it seems that like every time I see the band there
are a few more guitars and vintage amps on stage - it's really a pretty
impressive sight in a club setting. It looked like there were a few new
analog synths (including one sitting on an amp over by John) and there was a
new (I think) Fender Rhodes electric piano that showed up on a few songs.
The main set surprisingly only featured one new song ("War on War"), and was
somewhat laid back. Jeff only touched an electric guitar very briefly (at
the very end of a restrained "Misunderstood"), so maybe he's still
transitioning from the solo tour earlier this year. For many of the songs,
keyboards (particularly the organ) were dominant over the guitars. Jay and
Leroy were constantly switching between various keyboards and guitars the
whole night; it's obvious that this 5 piece lineup is very versatile and
they used it to good effect. I'm no percussion expert but I thought Glenn
did a great job. His style is definitely different than Ken Coomers' but
it's obviously difficult to put in words. He used "mallets" on a few songs
and had some impressive moments during the main set, noticeably on "Forget
the Flowers" and the main-set closer, a loose but intense "Sunken Treasure."
The highlight of the main set was probably "Airline to Heaven" which has
turned into something of a 3 guitar rave-up. It started out with a beautiful
"tease" intro and just kept picking up steam as it went along. For some
reason I kept thinking about Led Zep's 3rd album (the "acoustic" one) during
this killer performance. I've loved this song live since I first heard it
last May down at Carleton College and it just keeps getting better.
Since this was the first full-length Wilco show in several months, there
were a few glitches, snafus and tentative moments, but everyone handled them
OK. The band has clearly been rehearsing a lot - there were several very
nice intros and as the night progressed the boys increasingly found a
groove. Jeff was sort of in his withdrawn / intense mode and didn't say much
most of the night, although at the beginning of the first encore he did
offer up "I think we did pretty good for our first show - at least I don't
feel like slitting my wrists..."
Although there are lots of familiar songs in the main set, I did notice that
there were some new wrinkles incorporated into many of them: a nice organ
part on "Blood of the Lamb," some new keyboard fills on "A Shot in the Arm,"
Jeff's cool acoustic solo on "How to Fight Loneliness." Without some of
these wrinkles, this setlist obviously would be in danger of veering close
to "been there, done that" status.
The first encore was 30 minutes long and featured 7 songs - a nice mini-set.
We finally got a dose of some more new stuff starting off with (I believe)
the premier of the elusive "Jesus, etc.," one of the 4 songs from "Yankee
Hotel Foxtrot" that hasn't been played live yet (although it was on the solo
tour "master" setlist). Very cool sounding "pop" song with intriguing lyrics
and aided by Jesse Green on violin. For the encore, Jeff finally played
electric guitar and the energy level was noticeably higher as the set
progressed. Before a sublime version of "Kamera" - which was kicked off with
Glenn triggering a sample featuring a radio voice reciting
"Yankee-Hotel-Foxtrot" after Jeff asked "Glenn, what's the name of our new
record?" - Jeff mumbled something about "these songs need a camera," perhaps
in reference to some of the "non-linear" modes of writing he admitted to
adopting over the last year. "I'm the Man Who Loves You" has mutated from
the "Faces-ish" feel it had last year to a rockin' version dominated by
Jay's acoustic slide work. The biggest shock was to hear a brilliant
stand-alone version of "I Got You." Wonder if this "divorce" from the oh-so
familiar "Red-Eyed and Blue" segue is permanent? Another subtle new wrinkle
with a familiar song. The encore set ended with a smokin' version of "Casino
Queen" and a long, ragged version of "Monday" that started off with a
pounding intro from Glenn. The crowd was pretty much nuts by this point and
the main floor was pogoing like it was 1997.
After a brief respite, the band came up and started noodling around with
John sitting on the floor and Leroy down on his knees fiddling with synth on
stage left. After awhile it sounded like "Reservations" was coming and
indeed it did. This was a moodier version than the one they played last
November at First Ave, but still very powerful in its own unassuming way.
This was quite a shocking change in energy levels, which perhaps was too
much for some to handle - at one point it appeared that some idiot threw
something at the stage, which seemed to distract Jeff. Maybe it pissed him
off because the band exited rather quickly after the song. Who knows, maybe
it was planned that way; regardless, it was a nice little postscript to a
rousing first encore set.
All in all, a very enjoyable night. The new songs sounded uniformly great
and it was interesting to hear some of them in their full band incarnations
after repeated listenings to recordings from the solo tour. The departure of
Ken Coomer is obviously significant but it was a pleasure to see this new
chapter in the band's history begin on a high note. Oh yeah, the entire
night was recorded by a pro film crew, perhaps working on the upcoming
documentary.
Hopefully more comments after tonight's show.
SETLIST
1. Misunderstood
2. A Shot in the Arm
3. War on War
4. I'm Always in Love (back to the pop version)
5. How To Fight Loneliness
6. Hesitating Beauty
7. Blood of the Lamb
8. She's a Jar
9. California Stars (somewhere in here; not sure of exact position)
10. Forget the Flowers
11. Airline to Heaven
12. Remember the Mountain Bed
13. Sunken Treasure
ENCORE 1
14. Jesus, etc.
15. Kamera
16. I'm the Man Who Loves You
17. I Got You
18. Hoodoo Voodoo
19. Casino Queen
20. Monday
ENCORE 2
21. Reservations
Glenn Kotche performed in his first official Wilco concert Friday night in
Minneapolis at a 110 minute show at First Ave that featured plenty of
familiar tunes and a few surprises. On the way home, I was trying to recall
how many times Wilco has appeared at the Ave. and I figured that this was at
least their 14th or 15th appearance there. There was a large, but far from
sold-out crowd, which was a blessing in disguise coming on the 5th straight
day of horrible hot, humid weather. The stage set-up was the same as the
last few tours, although it seems that like every time I see the band there
are a few more guitars and vintage amps on stage - it's really a pretty
impressive sight in a club setting. It looked like there were a few new
analog synths (including one sitting on an amp over by John) and there was a
new (I think) Fender Rhodes electric piano that showed up on a few songs.
The main set surprisingly only featured one new song ("War on War"), and was
somewhat laid back. Jeff only touched an electric guitar very briefly (at
the very end of a restrained "Misunderstood"), so maybe he's still
transitioning from the solo tour earlier this year. For many of the songs,
keyboards (particularly the organ) were dominant over the guitars. Jay and
Leroy were constantly switching between various keyboards and guitars the
whole night; it's obvious that this 5 piece lineup is very versatile and
they used it to good effect. I'm no percussion expert but I thought Glenn
did a great job. His style is definitely different than Ken Coomers' but
it's obviously difficult to put in words. He used "mallets" on a few songs
and had some impressive moments during the main set, noticeably on "Forget
the Flowers" and the main-set closer, a loose but intense "Sunken Treasure."
The highlight of the main set was probably "Airline to Heaven" which has
turned into something of a 3 guitar rave-up. It started out with a beautiful
"tease" intro and just kept picking up steam as it went along. For some
reason I kept thinking about Led Zep's 3rd album (the "acoustic" one) during
this killer performance. I've loved this song live since I first heard it
last May down at Carleton College and it just keeps getting better.
Since this was the first full-length Wilco show in several months, there
were a few glitches, snafus and tentative moments, but everyone handled them
OK. The band has clearly been rehearsing a lot - there were several very
nice intros and as the night progressed the boys increasingly found a
groove. Jeff was sort of in his withdrawn / intense mode and didn't say much
most of the night, although at the beginning of the first encore he did
offer up "I think we did pretty good for our first show - at least I don't
feel like slitting my wrists..."
Although there are lots of familiar songs in the main set, I did notice that
there were some new wrinkles incorporated into many of them: a nice organ
part on "Blood of the Lamb," some new keyboard fills on "A Shot in the Arm,"
Jeff's cool acoustic solo on "How to Fight Loneliness." Without some of
these wrinkles, this setlist obviously would be in danger of veering close
to "been there, done that" status.
The first encore was 30 minutes long and featured 7 songs - a nice mini-set.
We finally got a dose of some more new stuff starting off with (I believe)
the premier of the elusive "Jesus, etc.," one of the 4 songs from "Yankee
Hotel Foxtrot" that hasn't been played live yet (although it was on the solo
tour "master" setlist). Very cool sounding "pop" song with intriguing lyrics
and aided by Jesse Green on violin. For the encore, Jeff finally played
electric guitar and the energy level was noticeably higher as the set
progressed. Before a sublime version of "Kamera" - which was kicked off with
Glenn triggering a sample featuring a radio voice reciting
"Yankee-Hotel-Foxtrot" after Jeff asked "Glenn, what's the name of our new
record?" - Jeff mumbled something about "these songs need a camera," perhaps
in reference to some of the "non-linear" modes of writing he admitted to
adopting over the last year. "I'm the Man Who Loves You" has mutated from
the "Faces-ish" feel it had last year to a rockin' version dominated by
Jay's acoustic slide work. The biggest shock was to hear a brilliant
stand-alone version of "I Got You." Wonder if this "divorce" from the oh-so
familiar "Red-Eyed and Blue" segue is permanent? Another subtle new wrinkle
with a familiar song. The encore set ended with a smokin' version of "Casino
Queen" and a long, ragged version of "Monday" that started off with a
pounding intro from Glenn. The crowd was pretty much nuts by this point and
the main floor was pogoing like it was 1997.
After a brief respite, the band came up and started noodling around with
John sitting on the floor and Leroy down on his knees fiddling with synth on
stage left. After awhile it sounded like "Reservations" was coming and
indeed it did. This was a moodier version than the one they played last
November at First Ave, but still very powerful in its own unassuming way.
This was quite a shocking change in energy levels, which perhaps was too
much for some to handle - at one point it appeared that some idiot threw
something at the stage, which seemed to distract Jeff. Maybe it pissed him
off because the band exited rather quickly after the song. Who knows, maybe
it was planned that way; regardless, it was a nice little postscript to a
rousing first encore set.
All in all, a very enjoyable night. The new songs sounded uniformly great
and it was interesting to hear some of them in their full band incarnations
after repeated listenings to recordings from the solo tour. The departure of
Ken Coomer is obviously significant but it was a pleasure to see this new
chapter in the band's history begin on a high note. Oh yeah, the entire
night was recorded by a pro film crew, perhaps working on the upcoming
documentary.
Hopefully more comments after tonight's show.
SETLIST
1. Misunderstood
2. A Shot in the Arm
3. War on War
4. I'm Always in Love (back to the pop version)
5. How To Fight Loneliness
6. Hesitating Beauty
7. Blood of the Lamb
8. She's a Jar
9. California Stars (somewhere in here; not sure of exact position)
10. Forget the Flowers
11. Airline to Heaven
12. Remember the Mountain Bed
13. Sunken Treasure
ENCORE 1
14. Jesus, etc.
15. Kamera
16. I'm the Man Who Loves You
17. I Got You
18. Hoodoo Voodoo
19. Casino Queen
20. Monday
ENCORE 2
21. Reservations
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