Jeff Tweedy — 13 May 2016, Chicago, IL (Vic Theatre) [Benefit For Youth Scholarships; Night 1 of 2]

[bböp]

Fortunately for those of us who enjoy Jeff's annual Vic benefit shows so much, this year marked a return to two performances (instead of last year's single show). And while he has occasionally struggled on the first night of a two-night run, tonight's performance offered a reminder of why these shows can be so entertaining. Jeff was, by turns, funny, self-deprecating, witty, amusing, engaging, insightful, sarcastic and sincere. Most importantly, he played well with only a couple of noticeable lyric and/or chord flubs.

So all in all, it was a very solid show. Lots from Banter Corner that I can only hope to scratch the surface of in terms of recapping — hopefully many others will chime in as well — but in some respects, this one will be remembered as the night of Alrick The German.

The aforementioned Teuton was a German guy who had apparently flown in for the show and managed to get someone to request a song for him despite the fact that he wasn't one of the first 30 people in line and then provided a perfect foil for Jeff to banter with for a bit toward the end of the show. There's no way I'm going to be able to totally convey the tone of the back and forth between Jeff and Alrick, but somehow the running conversation went from Alrick's single song request for Sonny Feeling (which was not granted; typically the song requesters are asked to offer at least two choices, so that Jeff might be able to play at least one of them) to Jeff making a comment about how "I wouldn't throw too many stones...you are German" and how "Hitler was a joke, too, at first" and Alrick responding that "(Hitler) was Austrian" to Jeff playing a perfectly timed "I'm A Wheel." After that, Alrick then said something like, "Do you have time to rehearse before the (upcoming) European tour?" which I think he meant as whether Wilco might have a chance to rehearse Sonny Feeling, but sort of came off as suggesting that Jeff and/or the band needed to rehearse. Jeff then said something about how Sonny Feeling was one of the two or three songs that "nobody in the band wants to play" and Alrick yelled out for Standing O, which Jeff said was coincidentally another of those songs. Jeff then proceeded to tell a story about how a German journalist had been one of the first to interview him about the release of Wilco (The Album) and flew all the way from Germany to do the interview, only to ask why there weren't more "Nels Cline guitar explosions" on this record the way there had been on the previous one.

Earlier in the evening, Jeff introduced the format of the show (as he usually does) by joking that these shows were "usually not very good and very long" and thanking the audience for its donation. He went on to explain that the songs he was playing had been requested by the first 30 people in line and how these were the same 30 people every year and they colluded on song requests that would probably not be pleasing to most of the rest of the audience. "So let's take off your critical thinking caps and enjoy the slog," Jeff said, adding that he didn't do the songs in the order they were requested because that would be terrible. As Jeff joked, "There's a show from four or five years ago that's still going."

When Jeff wasn't bantering with audience members or poking fun at the show itself, he sometimes found humor in a series of audience questions that had been submitted along with the song requests. One of these concerned how many striped T-shirts he has (something he has worn on stage relatively often of late). At first Jeff said, "I have no idea what you're talking about." Then he came clean and revealed that he has three striped T-shirts and that he initially had one and got a compliment on it, so he went out and bought two more because that he knew that it would be a look that he didn't have to worry about. Jeff then went on a mini rant about how mean people were on the Internet and how he knew that there was a percentage of the audience that only came to see Wilco to make judgements about his appearance.

Another audience question about the last time he had been starstruck led to a great story about trying to see the Ramones at Mississippi Nights in St. Louis when he was a teenager and summoning up the courage to say something to Joey Ramone. I don't have the energy to recount the whole story right now, but maybe someone else will. Later in the show, Jeff followed up with a couple other anecdotes about meeting various personages from Sesame Street over the course of his career, including getting a picture with Cookie Monster on the final Colbert Report (while standing to next to an "adorable war criminal" in Henry Kissinger).

Other chatter included the topic of songs that Jeff said he wished he could go back in a time machine and unwrite — or something to that effect. One of these songs was revealed to be Screen Door, which seemed to bother Jeff for, among other reasons, because several verses ended in prepositions. To which Jeff then got a subsequent text message from his wife on his Apple Watch saying, "How dare you? I love that song." And Jeff explaining that Screen Door was the only song of his to which his wife knew all the words. Anyway, I'm sure there were a few other bits I'm blanking on at the moment, but suffice it to say that more than a few trips were taken to Banter Corner over the course of the near-two-and-a-half-hour gig.

Musically, there were more than a few highlights as well. I personally loved hearing a few of the less commonly played tunes from Summerteeth, such as Candyfloss, ELT and Nothing'sever... and it had been quite a while since I've heard a solo version of Hoodoo Voodoo (even if Jeff had a slight lyric flub on that one, and then left a verse or two out of the subsequent main set-closing Dreamer In My Dreams). I guess I also have to take a little pride in the fact that my humble request for a new song gave us the live debut of a tune that I thought was titled Cry All Day (but which Jeff said might actually be called If I Ever Was A Child). Either way, it was a lovely melody and I have to thank Jeff for playing it.

The best part after such an enjoyable Night 1? That we've got one more show tonight to look forward to...

Here was the complete setlist as played (it appears that all songs listed on the printed setlist were played; the only difference was there was no encore break denoted on the printed list):

Fake Fur Coat
Born Alone
Either Way
Where Do I Begin
Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway(again)
Too Far Apart
Nobody Dies Anymore
No More Poetry
Love Like A Wire [Diane Izzo]
Theologians
So Much Wine [Handsome Family]
Christ For President
Wait Up
ELT
Bull Black Nova
The Joke Explained
Screen Door
Please Be Patient With Me
new song-If I Ever Was A Child
Taste The Ceiling
Candyfloss
Radio King
I'm A Wheel
Airline To Heaven
Gun
The Thanks I Get
Hoodoo Voodoo
Dreamer In My Dreams
---------------------------------
California Stars

[Albert Tatlock]

Nice reportage. Wouldn't have had JT down as an apple watch kind of guy (I'm not). Suppose it could be useful for those secret mid-performance messages from the crew - "Your flies are undone!". That kind of thing.
I'd guess it was a Grammy goody bag present :-)

Enjoy tonight. Another new song?

 

Nice to see So Much Wine there. Love that song as JT performs it. Seems churlish to request a cover at a JT solo show, but I would ...

[eckythump]

Great recap and so awesome Jeff played Cry All Day as your request! I'd like to think it was me who got the ball rolling on that one, you wouldn't have known to request it if it weren't on the setlist at Todos Santos I hope a Roadcase gets released!

[The Inside of Outside]

This is my favorite bbop recap to date. I laughed out loud several times. I can only imagine how funny it must have been in person. Thanks for taking the time to put it all in writing.

[nalafej]

Great review bbop! Would love to hear more from the banter files if anybody has more. Sounds like a highly entertaining show. Wish I had been able to make it.

[Magnetized]

Thanks for such a thorough show report and for including so much from banter corner. That's a big part of what makes these shows so special every year--the sense of a warm camaraderie between Jeff and us in the audience. The loose, unpredictable nature of these shows is what makes them a can't miss event every year. One thing that always is so striking at these shows is how effortlessly he transitions between a casual, conversational style between songs and the sincere way he plays the songs, obviously working at putting each one across in its best light.

 

To add a little bit to Banter Corner, there was some funny back and forth about the title of the latest album Star Wars, which he jokingly said he thought would be called Cease and Desist by now. He actually said he liked the title Cease and Desist from the beginning. He told us that that they made the request from Lucasfilms and were turned down, but that Lucasfilms didn't word their denial exactly the same way it had been requested so they went ahead and used the name anyway. He then offered up some alternate titles under consideration, including Kramer vs. Kramer and Spaceballs. "So many good titles"

 

I loved the interplay between Jeff and the woman who shouted out for California Stars. He shook his head and called it something like a rookie request, as opposed to the obscure deep cuts "the same 30 people" request every year. But then he very sweetly played it as an encore, giving us all a chance to loosen our own voices and sing along.

 

By the way, So Much Wine was my backup request and he delivered it beautifully, but I really hoped he would play my first request, Magnetized. I may try for that again tonight.

[The Inside of Outside]

By the way, So Much Wine was my backup request and he delivered it beautifully, but I really hoped he would play my first request, Magnetized. I may try for that again tonight.

Good luck with tonight's request - that's a dandy one.

[Preferred B]

I believe he referred to California Stars as "an entry-level request," but it actually was a legit request from someone in line as well. So he didn't exactly perform an impromptu audience suggestion, it was just a happy coincidence.

 

I love these shows every year, and I was happy Jeff chose to play Taste the Ceiling - I really enjoyed hearing some of these Star Wars (Schindler's List?) songs acoustically. Jeff's mention of Scott McCaughey helping to write that song reminded me that it had previously made me think of "View from Below." (Honestly, it's probably just the titles.)

 

Looking forward to tonight!

[Magnetized]

Jeff then went on a mini rant about how mean people were on the Internet and how he knew that there was a percentage of the audience that only came to see Wilco to make judgements about his appearance.

He also said that's how you can tell someone really has a life--when they get on the internet to tell you you're fat. He muttered something like "I preferred his younger, thinner songs."

 

One more thing that I just remembered: He said they have a new album already completed. . . "But we're not releasing it. . . . yet." Something about how recently Star Wars came out and how their philosophy used to be "Leave 'em wanting less"

[Gewee]

Great recaps... there was also the Dr Strangelove impression at the end of the first interaction with Ulirich the German which was quiet but still funny.

 

Also.. after screen door, Jeff put out a little ditty about rock-n-roll's necessary disregard for grammar citing Led Zepplin that went something like "Honey, you need more education, I am not kidding, Going to send you back for a fuller education'''" at which point he conceded that that sounded even worse.

 

There was also a small portion on Wilco's decision not to sell their "Make Wilco Great Again" hats. Jeff claims that it started out funny and then didn't come out as funny as they thought.

 

Thanks everyone for the setlists and rememberances. See y'all tonight at the front!

[calvino]

It would be a bummer if the band stops playing "Standing O" - it's a fun tune, live.

[theashtraysays]

We loved seeing everyone again and really enjoyed the show on Friday.  The banter throughout the evening was a real treat.  Jeff mentioned at one point how great we were as an audience, not being too interruptive, and that we should keep it like that.  Naturally, things got more interactive after that. 

On the "Star Wars" album title, Jeff said that he asked his lawyer if the band could use "Star Wars" as the name the new record.  His lawyer said no.  Then Jeff suggested "Schindler's List".  His lawyer then said "Let's go with Star Wars". 

The audience questions (first 30 in line) were jotted down on a few sheets of paper on a clipboard that Jeff referred to a few times.  He seemed to be scanning through them for the easy ones, and came to one that said something like "How could you possibly manage to get along without your wonderful wife?".  Jeff noted that the handwriting for that question looked "very familiar", glancing up to the balcony where Sue was, and that of course there was no way he could do that without such a wonderful wife as Sue. 

There was a fun little rant during "The Thanks I Get".  As the audience offered up a very lame "we can make it better" on the first chorus, Jeff explained that it really was "us" that can make it better, with a little rambling around sociopolitical woes and goings-on, and then a much more enthusiastic audience participation on the refrain which brought a smile.  On the falsetto "we can make it better", and we responded with our best audience falsetto, we were informed that we didn't have to do it the same way he did, but of course we always did.  A summonsing of David Lee Roth was also included.

Jeff shrugged off most of the big falsetto screams with a "I can't do it" throughout the evening.  He also didn't do his usual off-PA song at the end, although his guitars weren't plugged in throughout the evening (separate stand mic for the guitars, which all sounded great).  He also thanked the various requesters who asked for recent songs from Sukierae and Star Wars, in addition to explaining that some of the die-hards had progressed from merely asking for obscure songs to now asking for songs that haven't even been written yet (yeah, I think that one was for bbop). 

See you all down the proverbial road.  There's nothing like a little Wilco in Chicago.... Bull Black Nova was just the icing on the cake for me.

Thanks as always bbop for the review. 

Vince

[knotgreen]

I'm currently at O'Hare waiting to fly back to Boston after a great visit to Chicago and two memorable shows. We were lucky enough to be numbers 28 & 29 on Friday which was a total thrill. Jeff honored my first pick (No More Poetry) and my girlfriend's backup (Radio King; her first pick was You're Not Alone which ended up getting played the following evening). On night two we were a few people short, though we did get our question answered (What is Jeff's most memorable concert going experience).

 

There's not much that I can contribute that hasn't been said above. All I can say is that the shows, particularly night 1, exceeded my expectations. My face actually hurt at the end because I was smiling and laughing so much.

 

I can only hope to make it back to Chicago next year for these shows! Also, as this was my first time enjoying Chicago's deep dish pizza, I feel some obligation to mention that Pequod's was our agreed upon favorite.

[bböp]

Great recap and so awesome Jeff played Cry All Day as your request! I'd like to think it was me who got the ball rolling on that one, you wouldn't have known to request it if it weren't on the setlist at Todos Santos I hope a Roadcase gets released!

 

Thanks all for the kind words and for reading. Makes it worthwhile to know that at least a few people get something out of my late-night blatherings...

 

And all due thanks to Mr. eckythump for the "assist" on Cry All Day. For the record, I simply requested any new song and just threw out all of the titles I knew — Normal American Kids, Cry All Day and another one that may or may not be called Happiness Depends On Who You Blame — and a glance at the printed setlist perhaps indicated that Jeff didn't decide what to play until shortly before he played it. Anyway, I really appreciated it because I know it can sometimes be annoying to get a request for "something new." I'm glad we got one we hadn't heard before, and as I said, it really was a lovely tune.

 

One other thing I remembered was that I think I got "credit" for asking the question about the new record — and I definitely didn't. My question was about how Jeff's memoir is going and he sort of answered it in passing while talking about something else, basically suggesting that his own memory for the details of his career is not the greatest for someone who's supposed to be writing a book about himself. I think Jeff's comment was something like, "I'm the only person who's going to have to interview people to write an autobiography."

 

And lastly, kudos to Preferred B for pointing out that Wilco is actually currently selling the "Make Wilco Great Again" caps in their online store...

[bbognar]

Does anyone happen to have a recording of the show? The first couple years I went to these shows I was able to find recordings of them on thebarnpresents.com, but the last 2 or 3 years they haven't been up, and I really loved this show. I'd love to hear it again. If you do let me know! Thanks!!

[Albert Tatlock]

My question was about how Jeff's memoir is going and he sort of answered it in passing while talking about something else, basically suggesting that his own memory for the details of his career is not the greatest for someone who's supposed to be writing a book about himself. I think Jeff's comment was something like, "I'm the only person who's going to have to interview people to write an autobiography."

 

Has he made the call to you yet? I bet JT is secretly trawling your write-ups over the years. The bad news is that what with the whole Star Wars rip off    I can't see you getting any royalties 

 

[Magnetized]

Funny you should mention that. One of the most amusing things when you're standing in line to give your requests for the evening to Sue is how she'll turn around constantly and call over to Paul when she's stumped for an answer. Bbop is undoubtedly the not so unofficial band historian.