tblair

Seems the only way to get a Wilco crowd standing is to remove the seats.... . Having said that, they're not the 'danciest' of bands. Also, I saw them at the Forum in London last week, and it was a pretty old audience, (no complaints there, I'm definitely in the 'old' category. 67 old?... I think so). We were in the balcony which was seated. I'm not used to being in the balcony as I like to be a part of the fun and not just looking in on it, but we had a great view and the sound was fantastic, so we were quite glad to be able to rest our legs. I guess the downstairs crowd might have been a bit younger...?

 

 

There's a great video of the show on Youtube - 

It's a strange selection of songs for a festival crowd..? Weird watching Jeff trying to get what looks like a younger crowd than usual singing along to the opening song of Spiders🤪

Jeff... dear Jeff.... was the baseball cap keeping your face in the dark deliberate? Oh, and Pat, in fact everyone apart from Jeff... cheer up 😉

Fantastic performance though. Love the camera work on Nels for Impossible Germany

Ashamed to say I didn't go last night. Kind of wish I had now, but share your thoughts on recent material. Been to all the other London shows. 'Wilco'd out' maybe. Dunno, the relative lo-fi feel of recent stuff not so suited to Wilco's natural home maybe. Some of the stuff growing on me but it's not Tweedy's strongest material imo.

I enjoyed the Tweedy show at the Palladium more than this. I like his chat.

 

I'm very glad I went though. An average Wilco show is better than most

 

oh, and me and my wife both got punched, in the face by a lunatic girlfriend of a guy who was drunk and kept pushing into us. I asked him to stop, and she layed into the both of us. It didn't hurt or anything it was just a random end to the show..!?!?

Loved the show (as usual). Amazing sound. And the new arrangements of some of the songs was great.

 

But..... the newer songs (from the last 2 or 3 albums) just aren't that good. Too much of the set felt like filler material compared to so many songs they could do. 

 

And Jesus Etc a mood killer? Far from it, for me.

 

I'd put either night of Shepherds Bush Empire, and either night from the Roundhouse, and The Roxy, The Forum (maybe my favourite) and ... actually, most other London shows I've enjoyed more.

There's plenty of activity when there is something to discuss. Like a new album, a new tour, Solid Sound, etc. Right now the band is in Europe and most of us aren't.

 

The fact that there's now a Facebook group is probably making an impact on the activity level, however.

the Europeans are in Europe. Usually when they tour here (I'm in Europe) there are people giving set lists and opinions on the shows. There doesn't seem to be anything anymore...

Very underwhelming I'm afraid. Jeff's voice doesn't seem to be up to much any more. That hardly singing/almost talking style doesn't work (for me).
By the way, these forums seems pretty quiet. Is it because the Wilco site doesn't have a link anymore (none that I can see anyway)? 

http://drownedinsound.com/releases/19591/reviews/4150362

 

"Wilco's worst album"

hate to say it, but I agree. Maybe not for the same reasons, but I just got the album, and apart from 2 or 3 tracks, it's pretty devoid of much that I want to hear again. What's with the whispering vocal style? Jeff has a great voice, but not here.

I can't remember the last time I bought a ticket for something more than a year ahead.... 

If sales go well they should tag on a second night in London. Then on the first they can do a run through of Star Wars, and on the second do the same for the new album they would just have brought out by then

whenever I've seen them do 2 shows, it's always been like one long show broken up with a day long interval

I think the 'angst' over the English went years ago

 

he did mention the Blitz again though

I saw Humble Pie at the London Palladium in the 70's. I also saw Liza Minnelli and Shirley Maclaine there too (took my mum), but they're not exactly rock concerts. 

 

oh, just remembered, I saw Paul Simon there too on his first solo shows after after the break up of Simon & Garfunkel. I think there have been quite a few 'rock' concerts there in the past

 

oh, and (my memory..!?!) I saw Marvin Gaye there. How could I forget that!?

That's Stan Doty, the sound man.

does he do Wilco's sound too? if so, he's amazing.

The "5 dudes" comment was after he'd pointed out that there were 5 seats in the front row that had been empty all night. He then asked if anyone was going to sit there, and then when it was 5 guys, he sort of sighed, and said "5 dudes..."

 

The sound was unbelievable, but then it usually is for Wilco too. I was in the balcony, and there were small speakers hanging from the ceiling that seemed to help make for a fantastically clear vocal sound. A lovely evening

If you walk away from a show like that with anything other than amazement that you've had a chance to experience something that every other Wilco fan would kill to experience, it may be a sign that you need to adjust your expectations--that's all I'm saying. Now I'm done too.

if you only enjoyed because it was something that other people would have liked..?? really? that seems as odd as any reason to me. Kind of "yea, but I was there and you weren't ... nyer nyer"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYMpK71_otU

a whole 9 hour chunk of the festival... go to about 5 hours 13 minutes in for Wilco

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road... ... his most over-rated album imo.. the beginning of the end. If he stuck to material he'd recorded up until that one, I'd be there like a shot.

Patrick (Mathe) was who we worked with mostly (I think!)... I vaguely remember Louis... (sorry Louis).

 

The french seemed to love us, we loved the french, so it was all good. Some of my best memories are of touring France. That's probably why I get a little defensive (for them) when people criticise them. It happens so often, is really dumb, and based on nothing but jealousy as far as I can tell!

really cool! a Wilco fan who liked my band.. that's cool... very cool

 

we played in France more than any other country. We loved it, the french (seemed to) love us... the gig at le Maroquinerie was one of the most enjoyable we ever did. I love the set up there. From a performers perspective, looking out at a banked/wall of punters is almost unbearably inspiring.

 

I always remember, whoever our tour agent was, every one of them struggled to find us a venue in Paris that ever made any money. Paris was the first place we played outside of the uk... we had a fan who ran the Gibus club, which was a fantastic place... (he was the guy who organised the gig of Beatles covers, which was never meant to be an album, just a one-off event. It worked out so well, that we released it)

 

anywaysss....

Paris was always difficult. I never understood why. Every other city was no problem... Bordeaux, Lyons (oh... Lyons!), Montpelier, Marseille... anywhere was great

 

Once, we did 2 nights at the New Morning. That was a great venue, would suit Wilco? no?

(edited to say... the stage might be a bit too small..?)

No idea ! I'm gonna ask. But I've been at la Maroquinerie so often that there's a good chance I've seen you play there ! If I only knew who you are…

we played there in 2002 (The Inmates)

I've done the same as victor79, trying to contact everyone to try and see why Wilco didn't come to Paris more often. The answer was that it's almost impossible for them to make any money if they play their usual 800-1000 people venues. They've waited all these years to receive an offer for a venue like this one, which can hold 2500 seated people and make it profitable for them. When it was announced they'd play the REX, I had the chance to talk to John Stirratt. I warned him about this "sitting issue" and he told me "oh, don't worry, we know how to work these places." In my opinion, the other night, the real problems were 1/ security were instructed not to allow people to dance close to the stage; 2/ the REX always sells "VIP" seats with Champagne as an excuse to charge extra money ; 3/ the setlist WAS designed for a sitting audience. 4/ no one in France knew that you could make requests on the Website. But don't blame it on the french audience. The show at the club "la Maroquinerie" in 2005 or 2006, was duly reviewed in MOJO as one of the best EVER. Myself, I've seen the band in four different countries, and it was by far the most satisfying.

But the money issue is where it's at : they played two concerts in Brussels, thus playing for more or less as many people as in Paris in one, but surely making much more money…

la Maroquinerie!... that's the place (I forgot the name) where we got ripped off and didn't get any money. Good place, fantastic audience, but no money . I wonder if it's still the same people who run it ?

What does everyone think about the sit vs. stand debate?

all I know is a seated audience seems to not be the most conducive for Jeff... it seems to make him feel... errmm..... uneasy?

 

in my experience

Where I thought it was just a venue with over zealous security (btw it was a fancy-pants venue with roman statues and fake palm

trees, etc), my Parisian friend and host also seemed to blame it on her own culture. "You are not allowed to have fun in France," she said dramatically.

I've met people who say that about their own country in loads of different countries. I think it usually says as much about them as it does about the place. If you can't have fun in France - a beautiful country with amazing people, but not unique in that respect - ... then you're doing something wrong

And don't talk me about snobbish. I'm a parisian.

And don't talk me about snobbish. I'm a parisian. I know this city by heart. I know too well it's default. I know the hipsters. I'm friend with some of them. But is it too much for once to enjoy something on a genuine first degree where it matters more to enjoy the moment rather than being in only concern about how I'll tell my social contacts how I was there and oh it was "meh... not that good".

 

you know the hipsters? ... good for you

 

it's all the generalising that's dumb. This concert was disappointing.. that's all. Every time I've seen Wilco play to as seated audience, that's what happens. It's Wilco, half of what they play isn't exactly get up and dance type material

 

I've spent a lot of time in Paris, and France generally. My band has played Paris probably 2 or 3 dozen times, and they have been among the most enthusiastic audiences we've ever played to... I'm no stranger

 

maybe they should have played a different theatre... we always like the Bataclan (when it didn't have seats)... not sure if that's big enough (or even running still). I do remember our promoter having trouble finding a place to play in Paris that didn't completely rip you (the act) off. The last time we played in a great club to about 7 or 800 people, and after the local agents cut, the hire of the place (I know, they charged us for that!), the PA and everything else, we didn't get paid anything

 

we haven't been back since

WORST crowd ever. Wilco give it all and we tried to stand up at the begining of the show because they were rocking out and we wanted to have a party with them as we have been waiting for so long for them to come back. But all those lame people behind us told us to sit down. I mean it's a rock concert not Mozart. If you want to sit, just stay home and listen to the record, don't bully people that goes to a concert to give as good a feedback as the guys deserve. Parisian audience is just crap. Like tweedy said watching them makes him wants to sleep. And when finally Tweedy encourage them to stand up mid-way to the show, they stood up like a bunch of sheeps. Talk about spontaneity. Wilco should not come back after this. This town and this country ain't worth it. Why bother with a bored bourgeois audience. Looking forward to Primavera where we're going to have a real blast (us real fans).

what a snobbish load of pumped up ranting crap

 

real fans....

Not sure if this has already been posted. Found it last night and thoroughly enjoyed it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqYlM6N7rZ8&feature=player_embedded

It's not that they're letting people in early who've been waiting a long time; it's that the venue is charging an additonal $20/head for people to get in early and it's a) not fair to the people who can't/don't fork over the cash and in some cases, a complete scam, considering some of the folks who pay the extra dough don't actually end up in a better spot.

 

Maybe I read your response wrong, just seemed like you thought the venue was merely letting people in early who'd been standing outside -- at no extra charge...

no, that's exactly what I thought was happening (but thanks for the clarification... ). I think my sarcasm messed the reply up. I was suggesting (they should be) letting people in who have queued the longest first, without charging them... you know that quaint 'queueing' thing...

 

it stinks!

 

(the fact that they might not even get a 'better' spot, just means they're useless as well... it shouldn't happen at all...imo)

I think you're missing something.

who... me?

what am I missing?