Finally catching up on some sleep after an intense string of live shows here in the Twin Cities. I was out 8 nights in a row and saw some of the best live music I've seen all year. If I would've gone to the Interpol and Badly Drawn Boy shows on the 19th and 20th, that would've made 10 nights in a row, a run my body, wallet and wife probably would've objected to. It was a hell of a ride and I only missed two shows of consequence: Two Cow Garage (who were up against Centro-matic; they seem to be snake-bitten when it comes to scheduling conflicts in these parts) and David Thomas.
10/21/04 - ROCK FOR KARL BENEFIT @ THE QUEST. Much has been written about this historic night, a "special" occasion that for once actually lived up to the hype and even, at times, exceeded it. You know it's been a good night when a Paul Westerberg solo set is close to the least exciting thing on the whole bill (and who woulda thunk the highlight of his set would be "Kentucky Rain?"). Paul later redeemed himself nicely with a gloriously unkempt version of "Dead Flowers" with the Louris-less "Golden Smog" ("if me, Gary or Danny is missing, it ain't Golden Smog" - Kraig Johnson, 10/19/04), a performance that perfectly evoked the spirit of those drunken cover-fests 15+ years ago at the Cabooze, Uptown Bar and 400 Bar (original version). The "GS" set ended on a high note with a furious Iggy cover sung by KJJ ("Knocking 'em Down,' from "Soldier"). Then it was time for the Gear Daddies reunion, a set I quite enjoyed in spite of what can only be described as the "ugliness" of a large portion of GD "fans" (way too many rude, fucked up, frat-boy, backwards-baseball-cap-wearing mooks).
The most historic moment of the night, of course, was Grant Hart popping up on stage during Bob Mould's blistering solo electric set for two songs. While later reports from those in the know indicate that it might be premature to say that 16 years of acrimony have finally ended, it was nonetheless a powerfully emotional moment. And the man of the hour? Well, Karl sounded great on stage during SA's well-received, rockin' set and looked surprisingly chipper considering he was essentially nearly roasted alive during his extremely aggressive radiation treatment just a few months ago. Bad news? Well, it almost goes without saying that this benefit was at the wrong club in DT Mpls - the Quest is a horrible, wretched place, even by Clear Channel standards - but it's a testament to the power of the event itself and abundant good vibes that the severe shortcomings of the venue were overcome for a good cause.
10/22/04 - SARA LEE GUTHRIE & JOHNNY IRION / THE OLD 97s @ FIRST AVE. The 2 most recent New West signings on a very strong double bill. I mentioned in an earlier post my total pleasure at seeing Woody's granddaughter and her hubby backed by a couple of Jayhawks + Dave Boquist; suffice it to say that you should really try and catch them live if you can, especially if this expanded line-up ever hits the road (KYFC). Their new studio album, produced by Gary Louris at Ed Ackerson's Mpls studio, is a remarkable accomplishment and contains at least one song, "Gervais," that is destined to be a classic (comes out 1/25/05).
Like many here, I'm somewhat lukewarm about the recent 97s album, but their show was a crowd-pleasin' hoot damn near from start to finish. All phases of their recorded history were mixed in nicely, fondly evoking memories of the their 90s shows when they played to considerably smaller crowds here (there were well over a 1000 at this show). Throw in a smart cover or two and a truly impressive expenditure of energy, and you've got one sweat-drenched, deliriously happy crowd at the end of the night. Nice guys, too - hung around till the last cell-phone camera portrait was snapped.
10/23/04 - "ROCK FOR DEMOCRACY" @ THE TRIPLE ROCK. Started the night out early at yet another benefit (Summer 2004 in Mpls will definitely be remembered as "The Summer of Benefits") over at the Triple Rock catching my friends The Mood Swings, a "fuzz-pop" power trio led by Ashley Prenzlow, who are currently recording an album for Susstones. This was a very strange night, the concept being to alternate hip-hop and rock bands on one bill (The Melismatics, another fine Susstones act, were the headliners). I didn't stick around too long since I had to head over to...
10/23/04 - "WELLSTONE MUSIC DAY" @ THE TURF CLUB. About a zillion acts on this one, including local music scribe Jim Walsh, who helped plant the seed for this event last year. Jim used to front a local band back in the day (Laughing Stock, whose career highlights include one long-lost LP, a string of shows with the Replacements, and opening for Billy Bragg at one of his very first US shows when he played to about 50 people in the 7th St. Entry in 1985) and is currently dabbling with writing new music. Ya all know the drill: writers wanna be musicians who wanna be writers who wanna be actors who wanna be musicians... Grant Hart, Curtiss A and Slim Dunlap were the big draws and by 2am everybody was in a drunken, giddy mood, a fairly typical occurrence for a Saturday night at the Turf. The festivities ended with a now seemingly obligatory cover of "What's So Funny 'bout Peace, Love and Understanding," but the highlight for me was Curtiss A jumping up during Slim's set, Jameson in hand, for a never more pertinent reading of his scathing early Twin/Tone classic, "Land of the Free."
10/24/04 - LIANNE SMITH / RICH MATTSON @ THE TURF CLUB. Speaking of Twin/Tone, Lianne used to be in local Rockabilly cats, Safety Last, who, near the end of their run, also featured a young Gary Louris, right before he hooked up with Mark Olson in the Jayhawks. Lianne currently lives in NYC and is jumping back into the music scene after an extended absence. It was just her and an old Tele, with her former bandmate in Safety Last and The Tanglewoods, Jim Tollefsrud on drums. Nice set, with shades of Rosanne Cash and Jill Sobule evident and lots of promising songs. Rich Mattson is from Ol' Yeller, a cool local band who've put out 4 solid albums. For my money, he's just about the most underrated talent in town. He's a hard working guy with great stage presence and he seems to have the ability to pop out good songs at will. This was an acoustic set accompanied by one of his bandmates and featured lots of brand new songs, some being a dramatic departure from the rootsy Americana of Ol' Yeller. The night wound down earlier than I thought, so I hopped on I-94 and headed towards DT Mpls to catch...
10/24/04 - THE CRAMPS @ FIRST AVE. When I was planning out my concert schedule a few weeks ago, this was a show I thought I'd miss. As it turns out, I saw the whole shebang and ended up drinking way more than I planned on to boot, probably in reaction to the unrestrained campy decadence of Lux, Poison Ivy and crew. It had been two decades since I'd seen these sick weirdos and they were every bit as good as I remembered them. Maybe even better. The years have been surprisingly kind to these two (although, up close, I noticed Ms. Ivy had on a *lot* of make-up) as they've cranked out album after album of their patented brand of "psycho-billy" junkie rock. A week early for Halloween, although you never woulda known it from the crowd. I haven't seen so many freaky punk outcasts in one place since 1983, and that was probably at a Cramps show, too.
10/25/04 - WILCO (NIGHT 1) @ THE ORPHEUM THEATER. I'll admit I didn't have high hopes for this one since I was profoundly underwhelmed the last time I saw them in this space (July 2002) - I believe I used the word "snoozefest" to describe that show. The new expanded line-up, however, has opened up a whole new chapter in the band's history, something I've become increasingly aware of as I've listened to a big pile of 2004 Wilco live shows in recent weeks. In retrospect, it now appears that the fault line for Wilco fans will turn out to be the Summer 2001 live shows, aka The Jay Bennett Farewell mini-tour. This is the demarcation between the eclectic alt-country/Americana/whatever-you-wanna-call-it of the "old" Wilco and the "new" Wilco, who probably are more inspired by the Velvet Underground and Neu than Gram Parsons or Neil Young.
Personally, I was absolutely blown away by this new edition of the Jeff Tweedy Band. What Wilco plays these days resembles "rock" music but is probably closer to some conceptual high-art version of "rock" (I heard a local musician after the show refer to them as an "American Spiritualized," and that was meant as an extreme compliment). I'll admit, I'm a sucker for the "symphonic noise" and unabashed experimentation they are now so obviously fond of. Having said that, I can easily understand how some (many? most??) long-time Wilco fans now feel that their heroes have jumped the shark. I know how awful it can feel when a band you love gives up the ghost (I've still never forgiven Strummer and Co. for sacking Mick Jones). After witnessing this, the 23rd Wilco performance I've seen in MN, it's easy to see how one person's "beautiful noise" can be another person's "pretentious wankery." Wilco seemed particularly intense and driven on this otherwise uneventful Monday night; it was 49 minutes before Tweedy said a single word to the audience (I happened to be running my stopwatch, a carryover habit from my old taping days). Predictably, the bulk of the setlist was from the last two albums, but even the older material was affected by Wilco's new directions and strategies, which are explained nicely by Mikael Jorgensen (aka "Laptop Guy," although he actually is quite competent on a variety of keyboards/doo-dads in the current live line-up) in the appendix of the new "The Wilco Book." Case in point: the new noisy middle section of "Via Chicago," which, IMO, expands exponentially the disturbing creepiness and sadness of this song, resulting in a chilling listening experience. This is the same noisefest that Karla so mercilessly derided; I thought it was one of the highlights of the night - go figure. The line clearly has been drawn in the proverbial sand and I fear those who are jumping off the bandwagon may never catch up with it again.
10/26/04 - WILCO (NIGHT 2) @ THE ORPHEUM THEATER. Intensity level was dialed down a few notches for this show; not as many skronk-fests and journeys to inner space. Tweedy was more affable and engaged with the audience, and the encores were a bit more palatable to fans of the "old" Wilco. Monday night we were sitting in the front of the balcony so we had a birds eye view of the amazing Mr. Kotche. On Tuesday I was down in the 6th row so I was able to pay more attention to the Nels Cline (who, literally, brings the noise to this band) and Pat Sansone, who does a fine job as the resident multi-instrumentalist (Leroy who?). Some welcome setlist variations for night 2 - another big change from the early post-YHF shows - including "Hell Is Chrome," "Less Than You Think" and "Magazine Called Sunset." "Spiders" worked well as the main set finale; both versions I saw were superb, the metronomic intensity building to dizzying heights. Definitely becoming a big crowd fave, at least for fans of the "new" Wilco. Like I said, the line has been drawn... FWIW, I'm also a fan of the earlier, non-Krautrock live versions of "Spiders," although it's essentially become a different song now. As he did the night before, Tweedy gave his political stump speech (he and most of the band went to a John Edwards rally earlier in the day at the U of M) before a very powerful version of Bill Fay's "Be Not So Fearful" to end the show. I left the second night suitably awed and anxious to see this line-up again, a drastically different feeling than I had after the last few times I'd seen the band.
Milled around for a bit after the show (saw Alan Sparhawk from Low - who's no stranger to conceptual methods - in an intense discussion with Tweedy; don't be surprised if Wilco go all "slow-core" on the next album...heh, heh), but not for too long since it was time to walk down Hennepin Ave. a few blocks to see...
10/26/04 - CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN @ FIRST AVE. This show apparently wasn't selling well - Tweedy announced from the stage earlier in the night at the Orpheum that a Wilco ticket stub + $5 would get you in to see CVB. After the Wilco show I noticed a few First Ave. employees actually giving away comps to the people exiting the theater. Regardless of the price, it was surprisingly good show for a long-dead band, especially considering that their equipment just got jacked a few weeks ago. Much to my delight, they played a ton of material from their "Santa Cruz" years, along with a big chunk of the new album and a very entertaining batch of covers ("White Riot," "Pictures of Matchstick Men," etc.). A large contingent of Wilco members and friends were in attendance, gaining admittance only after Marc Perlman and I patiently explained to the door person that these people weren't just coming from the Wilco show but they _were_, in fact, Wilco (First Ave. was co-promoting the Wilco show and someone was supposed to have left word at the door). At one point, I exasperatedly asked the cashier if she couldn't just change my media credentials from "plus 1" to "plus 11," which didn't quite get the reaction I was hoping for.
10/27/04 - DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS @ THE ELECTRIC FETUS. An afternoon acoustic in-store set that featured 2-3 songs from Hood, Cooley and Isbell. Words, melodies and finger-pickin' took center stage for this performance in front of the box set section. It all came off surprisingly well considering the absence of their usual triple electric guitar roar. It's becoming increasingly evident to me that Jason Isbell is the real deal; he's an amazingly accomplished songwriter and guitar player for such a young whippersnapper. Hopefully a proposed solo project is on the fast track.
10/27/04 - CENTRO-MATIC / DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS @ FIRST AVE. Another strong double-bill and an impressive crowd for the Trucker's first big room show in MN. Centro played an hour set that seemed to last about 15 minutes and were just friggin' awesome. It was also cool to see Jason Isbell provide some atmospherics on a few songs. All of the Centro guys are amazing musicians - their command of mood and dynamics is absolutely masterful. Will J.'s almost becoming a regular around here - he did an opening solo set at the Triple Rock a few weeks ago and will be back there in a few weeks for another solo set, opening for the reformed American Music Club. I chatted with him for a few minutes during the Truckers and he couldn't have been nicer. Definitely one of the "good guys" (John Stiratt belongs in that category, too).
The last few Truckers shows I've seen were largely uneventful, but they sure kicked ass from the git-go this time; they were as hot as I've ever seen them. Several of the songs off "The Dirty South" have grown on me in recent months and they played nearly all of those in the first 90 minutes. This was fortunate for me since I had to take off to pick up my wife a few blocks away at the Loon bar. She had just come in from the airport on our new billion dollar LRT choo-choo train and was having a drink while watching the Red Sox complete their stunning curse reversal. Usually 90 minutes will get you an entire concert; for the Truckers, that's about half a show!
10/28/04 - JOHN CALE @ FIRST AVE. Pitifully under-attended show, considering this man's CV and influence on modern rock music - back in the early and mid-60s, he was exploring (helping to invent?) some of the very avenues that Tweedy and Co. are traveling these days. On the surface, there are more than a few similarities between Cale and the "new" Wilco - both share a penchant for songs featuring lilting melodies and light passages interspersed with blasts of the avant-garde. Cale is touring with a very competent 3 piece band in support of last year's "Hobo Sapien" album, his first release in a long time. Stylistically, Cale and his band were almost ridiculously diverse - everything from delicate, whimsical ditties to long, loud segments of sampled noise and distortion (hmm...sound familiar?). Highlights included "Fear is A Man's Best Friend," "Cable Hogue," "Leaving It Up To You," a radically revamped, very disjointed "Gun" and a long jam version of the immortal "Pablo Picasso." All in all, a superb show, even though he didn't play a whole slew of personal faves ("Big White Cloud," "Guts," "Amsterdam," etc.). Cale alternated between his keyboard/sampler, viola and acoustic & electric guitars and showed he's still the shit, well into his 5th decade of involvement with some of the best music created in the modern era.
10/29/04 - HOME. Spent some quality time in front of the TV and computer. Had the strange sensation that I was missing something, somewhere...
Showing posts with label wilco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wilco. Show all posts
Monday, November 1, 2004
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
Sunday, May 7, 2000
Review: Wilco - 5/6/00 - Carleton College - Northfield, MN
I also made the trip down to beautiful Northfield, MN yesterday. There was next to no security; it couldn't have been easier to get in.
Any talk about not admitting non-students was merely a smoke screen. On a
related note, I was shocked to find out from a student that Los Lobos had
played at a chapel on campus Wednesday night for a free "private" concert
(they played the next night in Mpls) and there was, again, minimal security
present. I'm definitely going to check the student activities calendar next
spring to see what pops up! The concert yesterday was held in an open field
next to a big rec hall on the edge of the campus. I'd say there was no more
than 1000 people total in attendance and there was far less than that by the
end of Wilco's set. Maybe 25% were actually in front of the little stage,
which bordered a big field. At the end of the show, Jeff gave props to some
students who had buried a keg in the field the night before. He applauded
their resourcefulness and said someone "should give them a job with the Air
Force or something." It was weird during the Wilco set to turn around and
realize that the vast majority of the people there weren't even paying
attention to the music; this definitely wasn't a "Wilco concert." It was an
unseasonably warm day here in Minnesota (it was still 80 degrees at 10pm!),
so it looked more like the 4th of July than the first week in May - lots of
Frisbees, beer drinkin' and beach attire. Ultimately, it was a neat, if not
a bit surreal, setting - beautiful weather, idyllic surroundings, free
beverages, only a few hundred people watching and pretty damn good sound for a "little" PA.
It was indeed strange to see a 4-piece Wilco. Somebody shouted out "where's
Leroy?" and Jay mouthed "in Philadelphia." At another point Jeff spotted a
Jayhawks t-shirt and said "some guy with a Jayhawks t-shirt is wondering
were Gary Louris is. Well, sir, you're at the wrong concert. Gary Louris is
in England. Kissing ass." Or something close to that. Without Leroy, the
rock quotient was higher than the 4 Wilco shows I saw last year. Lots of
noisy, grungy guitars and even some nice effects - I hadn't seen the boys
rock out like this since probably the height of the "Being There" tour.
"Someone Else's Song" was particularly gnarly. Jay lessened the blunt force
a bit on a very nice "She's a Jar / Shot in the Arm" 1-2 which featured
some beautiful flutey mellotron keyboard work.
The setlist leaned away a bit from the Summerteeth stuff, which gave the
show a kinda "time warp" sensation. The new Mermaid Ave. song sounded like a winner to me, almost "rock gospel." Jeff got pretty intense a few times - an
interesting contrast to the "party" atmosphere. At the end of a fine "Sunken
Treasure" he was yelling "I don't need rock 'n' roll / you don't need rock
'n' roll / NOBODY needs rock 'n' roll." You go, boy! The usual rave-up at
the end of "Misunderstood," turned into a wild cacophony of echoing
"Nothing" s that caused more than a few perplexed looks from the
sun-drenched students, some of whom were probably wondering "hmm, I thought these guys were some kind of *country* band..." And I loved the Who intro to "Outtasite" - wondering if they've done that before and, if so, for how
long.
All in all, a pretty damn good show on a gorgeous day and a rare chance to
see the boys from 15 feet away.
SETLIST
Wilco @ Carleton College - outdoor festival - Northfield, MN - May 6, 2000
6:05 - 7:25
1. Candy Floss
2. I'm Always in Love
3. I Must Be High
4. Too Far Apart
5. Hotel Arizona
6. Red Eyed and Blue -->
7. I Got You -->
8. Someone Else's Song
9. Sunken Treasure
10. She's a Jar
11. A Shot in the Arm
12. Misunderstood
ENCORES
13. Forget the Flowers
14. Airline to Heaven (Mermaid Ave. 2 song)
15. California Stars
16. Can't Stand It
17. Casino Queen -->
18. Hoodoo Voodoo
19. Won't Get Fooled Again instrumental break -->
20. Outtasite (Outtamind)
Saw a few people taping. Somebody was patched out of Adam's DAT deck at the soundboard and I hooked up with a student who ended up with an outstanding MD recording using an elevated mic. Shouldn't be a problem tracking down this show.
And as a final postscript...After the show I talked to a few people and
headed for home. I stopped in at "The Big Steer" truck stop on I-35 and 19
for a pit stop before I made the 45 minute drive up the interstate. I was
waiting in line for an ice cream cone and who should come walking by but Mr.
Tweedy himself! Needless to say, I was a bit taken aback - I shook his hand
and muttered something about how great the show was. He was real nice but
obviously in a hurry. He apologized for his haste and said he was on his way
home. As for Leroy, he said he was "unavoidably detained." Nice little
capper for the day. Saturday morning I had my doubts about even making the
trip - now I'm glad I didn't stay home and mow the lawn!
Any talk about not admitting non-students was merely a smoke screen. On a
related note, I was shocked to find out from a student that Los Lobos had
played at a chapel on campus Wednesday night for a free "private" concert
(they played the next night in Mpls) and there was, again, minimal security
present. I'm definitely going to check the student activities calendar next
spring to see what pops up! The concert yesterday was held in an open field
next to a big rec hall on the edge of the campus. I'd say there was no more
than 1000 people total in attendance and there was far less than that by the
end of Wilco's set. Maybe 25% were actually in front of the little stage,
which bordered a big field. At the end of the show, Jeff gave props to some
students who had buried a keg in the field the night before. He applauded
their resourcefulness and said someone "should give them a job with the Air
Force or something." It was weird during the Wilco set to turn around and
realize that the vast majority of the people there weren't even paying
attention to the music; this definitely wasn't a "Wilco concert." It was an
unseasonably warm day here in Minnesota (it was still 80 degrees at 10pm!),
so it looked more like the 4th of July than the first week in May - lots of
Frisbees, beer drinkin' and beach attire. Ultimately, it was a neat, if not
a bit surreal, setting - beautiful weather, idyllic surroundings, free
beverages, only a few hundred people watching and pretty damn good sound for a "little" PA.
It was indeed strange to see a 4-piece Wilco. Somebody shouted out "where's
Leroy?" and Jay mouthed "in Philadelphia." At another point Jeff spotted a
Jayhawks t-shirt and said "some guy with a Jayhawks t-shirt is wondering
were Gary Louris is. Well, sir, you're at the wrong concert. Gary Louris is
in England. Kissing ass." Or something close to that. Without Leroy, the
rock quotient was higher than the 4 Wilco shows I saw last year. Lots of
noisy, grungy guitars and even some nice effects - I hadn't seen the boys
rock out like this since probably the height of the "Being There" tour.
"Someone Else's Song" was particularly gnarly. Jay lessened the blunt force
a bit on a very nice "She's a Jar / Shot in the Arm" 1-2 which featured
some beautiful flutey mellotron keyboard work.
The setlist leaned away a bit from the Summerteeth stuff, which gave the
show a kinda "time warp" sensation. The new Mermaid Ave. song sounded like a winner to me, almost "rock gospel." Jeff got pretty intense a few times - an
interesting contrast to the "party" atmosphere. At the end of a fine "Sunken
Treasure" he was yelling "I don't need rock 'n' roll / you don't need rock
'n' roll / NOBODY needs rock 'n' roll." You go, boy! The usual rave-up at
the end of "Misunderstood," turned into a wild cacophony of echoing
"Nothing" s that caused more than a few perplexed looks from the
sun-drenched students, some of whom were probably wondering "hmm, I thought these guys were some kind of *country* band..." And I loved the Who intro to "Outtasite" - wondering if they've done that before and, if so, for how
long.
All in all, a pretty damn good show on a gorgeous day and a rare chance to
see the boys from 15 feet away.
SETLIST
Wilco @ Carleton College - outdoor festival - Northfield, MN - May 6, 2000
6:05 - 7:25
1. Candy Floss
2. I'm Always in Love
3. I Must Be High
4. Too Far Apart
5. Hotel Arizona
6. Red Eyed and Blue -->
7. I Got You -->
8. Someone Else's Song
9. Sunken Treasure
10. She's a Jar
11. A Shot in the Arm
12. Misunderstood
ENCORES
13. Forget the Flowers
14. Airline to Heaven (Mermaid Ave. 2 song)
15. California Stars
16. Can't Stand It
17. Casino Queen -->
18. Hoodoo Voodoo
19. Won't Get Fooled Again instrumental break -->
20. Outtasite (Outtamind)
Saw a few people taping. Somebody was patched out of Adam's DAT deck at the soundboard and I hooked up with a student who ended up with an outstanding MD recording using an elevated mic. Shouldn't be a problem tracking down this show.
And as a final postscript...After the show I talked to a few people and
headed for home. I stopped in at "The Big Steer" truck stop on I-35 and 19
for a pit stop before I made the 45 minute drive up the interstate. I was
waiting in line for an ice cream cone and who should come walking by but Mr.
Tweedy himself! Needless to say, I was a bit taken aback - I shook his hand
and muttered something about how great the show was. He was real nice but
obviously in a hurry. He apologized for his haste and said he was on his way
home. As for Leroy, he said he was "unavoidably detained." Nice little
capper for the day. Saturday morning I had my doubts about even making the
trip - now I'm glad I didn't stay home and mow the lawn!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
