boxfulloflecords

A question for those who went to every night of the residency...the fact that you now heard ever proper Wilco album song in concert does that take away the desire to see them again live? I am a completist and love to hear all the songs off an album. If I accopmplished that I probably wouldn't see Wilco live again...or at least until a new album came out. Thoughts?

 

and for those of you who would see them again lets say they did another 5 nights of just regular shows in Chicago in the next year with no new material to be played. How many would you go to??

 

 

I have tickets for CT on Sunday and am debating the trip from NYC. Nevermind that I am drained and sick again, and have to officially go back to work Monday, but I am worried that it will be somewhat anticlimactic. Just as Jeff says we spoiled them for their tour, I think they spoiled us for any near-future "regular" shows. I'm still riding the high from this week and my ears are actually still ringing (not a good thing I guess) yet I do feel the urge to see my beloved Wilco again...not the worst of dilemmas, but a dilemma nonetheless

I made a big miiiiisssstake...must've read wrong when I said John Doe wasn't opening for them in CT!!! Yea for me being wrong!

WOW! What great photos. My camera sucks - I can't seem to get any quality shots. Thanks for posting/sharing. You Wilco fans...truly a generous lot.

I finally got the rest of my Saturday night photos up. Here are a few of the better ones ... they can all be found here.

 

 

 

 

 

They did the Hoodoo Voodoo dueling guitars thing at Warsaw with Jeff in the mix too. It was a highlight then and when they began the song last night I knew it would be just as amazing.

So far this has been such such a heartwarming experience for me. I don't have any close friends who obsess about this band the way I do and it is so nice to be with people who "get it." Not having to explain the Wilco thing is a luxury that I will never take for granted. I have met so many great people from all around the country and I am looking forward to hanging with my new friends at the next 3 shows. The sing-along at the bar was truly special, I doubt I will ever have that opportunity again. I'm not usually a sing-along kinda gal but it was so organic and joyus. And what a great DJ - several Wilco AND Replacements songs...can't beat that!

Have I mentioned I LOVE THIS BAND SO MUCH yet there are simply no words to express the enormity of my emotions...but you all understand. It makes me want to laugh, cry, jump for joy, shout at the top of my lungs (though I currently have no voice) and hug all of you wonderful VCers

See you all Monday...fingers crossed for Alone, Venus..., and Summerteeth.

They did a great job on it, as far as I was concerned. Great night. Andrew Bird coming out was the best thing ever. They should make him a part of the group and be done with it. Hotel Arizona was a highlight for me of course and the "real' encore with the guitar duel between Nels and Pat during Hoodoo Voodoo was the perfect way to end the night. I don't know if they have done that before (have they???) but it gave the encore a nice airing out and a way to send the crowd home happy.

 

Aside from nearly coming to blows with a 19 year old girl who insisted on leaning against me before the show (without even introducing herself) because she couldn't see without doing it, the night was a gas.

 

Gawd I am glad there is a break today and earlier shows this week. Someone save a seat for me in the balcony one night okay?? Everyone else...enjoy your day off, particularly those from out of town. PM me if you need directions... I will be doing work today to make up for the time on Friday I spent on the street instead of working.

 

LouieB

Can you point me to the postings about what to do while I'm here...having trouble finding them thanks.

Glad we can impress someone from NYC....hope you get your voice back; between not being able to hear and you not being able to talk it was kind of a tough night.....I plan to opt for the balcony one night this week also.

 

Exactly....

 

LouieB

Great to meet you and your friends last night (redhead on your right from NY). Big thanks to Leo for the position upgrade. My ears are still ringing but I'd say it was well worth some future loss of hearing. It was a jaw-dropper to say the least...nearly cried several times (that Jeff ). Might opt for balcony tonight to give my ears and feet a rest...got a long week ahead!

I know what people are saying about the crowd. There certainly are some immature, (drunk) morons at Wilco shows. But they are in every crowd, in fact they are a fact of life - what percentage of the gen-pop isn't? Take heart Wilco lovers, I met some amazing people last night from all over the country and I find true Wilco fans to be intelligent, generous and genuinely warm people. I usually go to shows alone (my friends have NO taste in music) and I always know I am going to meet someone nice to hang with.

Looking forward to more rarities in the coming nights. I can only assume they will save the deep, deep cuts for the die-hards on Tuesday & Wednesday.

Actually it was a guitar with a banjo head...(there is an off color joke in this somewhere but I am too tired to even consider it....)

I think my hearing is perminantly gone in my left ear..oh well....my bad for not bringing ear plugs...

 

Really really great time. I didn't think the show would go on so long. Having already played some of the regulars, the remaining four nights should get ever more adventuresome. There are huge hunks of all albums left to play I suppose, but as many said, Nels' solos were magnificent, the horns were actually sort of hearable and great and the band was on fire, as expected.

 

As for the fans, everyone I was near was fun as hell, starting at 1 in the afternoon on the sidewalk. It appeared at one point that there was alot of chatter from the back during the quiter moments of the encore, but so it goes. I met a whole ton of folks I had not met before and saw some VCers I had not seen for several years as well. Frankly I don't think Wilco fans are worse than any others.

 

Hopefully someone will post up a copy of this thing soon. Incidently the Tuesday show is going to be on XRT so fans from all over the world can be there in spirit. Thanks XRT in advance I suppose.

 

Okay, I am tired....more later or more tomorrow.

 

LouieB

I totally agree. I also think the band totally loves it when fans sing along with the new stuff, not just the old favorites.

Definitely. Jeff was clearly thrilled that the crowd was singing the new stuff as much as the old. You could see it in his face (and all their faces) that this was a special show. Thankfully, the crowd was MUCH better than at the Hammerstein. I was actually kind of disappointed with Monday's show - the crowd really ruined it for me.

But alas, I have been saved. My throat is killing me from singing and screaming - honestly, I would've cried if I wasn't smiling so damn much! On and On was beautiful...even the security guys in front of the stage were won over; they asked what it was called.

Best Wilco show I've ever seen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have to say, when I heard What Light for the first time in Toronto, I was very moved! I absolutely loved the song and I immediately wanted to hear it again. I was thrilled when they opened with it the next night in London. Impossible Germany grew on me soon after. The new stuff is quite different than YHF and AGIB but I never judge a band's musical evolution (or devolution as it may well be) until I have a chance to really get to know the new songs. Too many bands are accused of selling out when they don't play the same shit over and over - imagine if every Wilco album was just a continuation of AM? AM is wonderful but that would get pretty old pretty quick. I'll hold off on my critique until the album comes out, until then, I'll take anything they play - anywhere, anytime!

Heard them in Barnes & Noble, Astor Place, NYC last summer. Can't recall the song but it really didn't matter which one it was - I was so bummed that day and it just lifted my heart. It's funny, I happened to (serendipitously) take out my ear-buds yet I continued to hear Jeff's voice. I think for a moment I thought i was going crazy.

As you can probably infer from Brianne's excellent setlist report, it was a very enjoyable show tonight in Freddy (is that what people from here call it?). The Playhouse is a nice, intimate theater -- somewhere around 750 capacity -- but people were on their feet from the start and remained that way throughout for the most part.

 

Personally the highlights for me were obviously the debut of another new song as well as hearing Radio Cure for the first time in ages (even if Jeff had to politely shush a couple of girls talking near the front of the stage during one of the quiet parts). But as far as the new song -- Let's Fight -- we had heard them working on it in soundcheck the other night in Dartmouth. I personally didn't think it would be ready to play for a while yet -- not because it sounded bad, but just because it seemed like the band was still working on it. I was glad to be wrong when the band launched into it tonight.

 

It's a proggy-sounding tune, kind of reminded me a little of Traffic on first listen. I could be way off base, but that's what first came to mind. There's not any real distinctive soloing, but it just seems of more like an ensemble piece with the keyboards coming through a little more than some of the other new songs. I jotted down some lyrics as best I could and here's what I can decipher at this late hour:

 

Even though I know you owe me nothing,

I keep hoping that you'll show me something

Tonight

 

Even though I know I don't deserve you,

I keep thinking this could be so much better

Too

 

Tonight, let's fight

Let's get this right

 

Even though you know I came to comfort you,

I cause you pain. That's all I do.

 

You're right, just fight.

Let's get this right

Let's fight

 

Anyway, I doubt that it's a finished product at this point and hopefully we'll get to hear more of it in the couple of shows left on this tour.

 

Generally speaking, it was a fun show with good energy. Jeff seemed to be having a good time, bantering with the crowd even a little more than usual. He talked again about how much the band had enjoyed their time in the Maritimes, tried to teach the backing vocals on Heavy Metal Drummer (to somewhat mixed success--he said, based on its effort during Hummingbird, that clapping might have been the audience's strong suit) and once again invited an audience member on stage to explain the whole Kingpin screaming routine. Jeff also thanked most the crowd for standing the whole time, gently needling a couple of guys near the front who had been sitting for most of the time.

 

What else? Well, Misunderstood was slated to be the closer and that would have been a good choice. I'm not sure if they ran out of time or just decided to end it after War on War, but either way it didn't get played. Oh well. In the end, it didn't detract from the show. Spiders in the middle of the set is always slightly jarring, but rather than fade it out, to their credit, the band did the fake-out ending. And there was a nice segue from What Light right into IATTBYH. It's nice to hear how What Light is coming along. I think it's probably the most immediately likeable of the new songs that have been unveiled so far.

 

P.S. FYI, I won't be at either the Quebec City or Ottawa fests, so hopefully somebody will post with setlists from there. Didn't want anybody to think I was holding out or anything.

Another new song and another great report - Yea!!!! Thanks so much for the lyrics - how do you do it?!

Sounds like a phenomenal show - wish I could have been there. Hopefully they'll play the new one and Ashes at the Pines.

Yeah, there is just the tour poster with all the dates on it. There were only 700 prints made and I know the one I bought was 622, so I'm not sure how many are going to be left after tonight's show.

Oh - and mine's getting mounted today with all 6 signatures.

Alright, that was a little braggy, but I'm just so stoked. haha

I'b be feelin' braggy too!!!!

Good for you - lucky dog.

Wow, Brianne was quick posting that setlist. Great job!

 

Well, I guess I can add some comments about the show. The Alderney Landing Events Plaza is basically a big outdoor stage at one end of a huge building that houses the ferry terminal for the Halifax-Dartmouth ferry as well as a bunch of other stuff. Anyway, the stage looks out on a great view of Halifax harbor and Jeff commented on how lucky the Haligonians and Dartmouthians were to live in such a beautiful place. "Atlantic Canada rules!" he said, to plenty of cheers from the crowd.

 

Apparently the show was a pretty big deal for the local music community, considering that the cover of the local alt-weekly boasted, "You can say you were there when WILCO played Dartmouth." Unfortunately, the big crowd probably didn't get the band's best performance -- largely because of technical difficulties and an 11 p.m. curfew. The first sign of trouble was during Handshake Drugs when Jeff went to switch to his electric guitar and join Nels in their freakout only to discover that he was completely without power. I'm not sure if that was exactly the problem, but it seemed like there was a problem with one of his pedals and the result was that there was nothing coming out of the guitar. So basically Nels (and, to a lesser extent, Pat) had to carry the song and did so admirably. It was eerily reminiscent of the last DVD show at the Vic, for those who were there.

 

And that wouldn't be the first time that something went awry. As Mike launched into the piano intro for Walken, a frustrated-lookng Jeff once again found himself without power in his guitar and literally had to wave at Mike tio stop playing. It took a few minutes for the problem to be resolved again, but it felt like a lot longer even though Glenn and possibly Pat tried to get a little jam going. Once the power came back, things went fine.

 

But two songs later, during I'm The Man Who Loves You, Jeff broke a string toward the end of the song and basically couldn't complete his solo. He asked, "Are there any guitar players out there? You're seeing a real showcase tonight."

 

That was the end of the technical issues, but the accumulated difficulties might have prevented the band from playing at least one more song. It looked like their guitar tech was bringing out another guitar after Spiders, but by then, the curfew had already passed and Jeff had to say goodnight. Despite some of the problems, it was still a fun show and a good portion of the crowd that had never gotten the opportunity to see the band live before brought a lot of enthusiasm and walked away seemingly satisfied.

 

Also of note: Impossible Germany was once again played with the solo/jam in the middle of the song; the Kingpin screaming routine was explained by Jeff and not an audience member (basically because the crowd was about 12 feet back from the stage behind a barricade and it would have taken forever to get someone up there); and Spiders had the fake-out ending we've come to know and love.

Paul, you rock!

I wish I could have continued the tour with you but I guess I'll have to settle for reading your thoughtful reviews; they are truly the next best thing to being there. I (and many others) appreciate you reporting back on all the little details that made the show unique. Regardless of what some VC critics say, it's the details that really help convey the full Wilco experience. Keep up the great work and I'll see you at the Pines.

That was me!

 

I'm hopping right on the torrent; it's probably the only time I'll be able to hear myself on a Wilco recording of any sort...

Forever immortalized on a Wilco bootleg - NICE! You were great and Jeff really appreciated how you handled it. Great Job!