TCP

They've already said there won't be an opener. "An evening with" usually (always?) indicates that the band is the only music performance. I don't think it necessarily means the set will therefor be longer. But I suppose it's a possibility.

Anyways, I got tickets for all 3 nights in St Paul, see you folks there. 

Did anyone here grab Archives Volume 3? I was planning on streaming it via Neil's site all weekend but it appears they're not allowing streaming even to paid subs. And of course there's no way to buy the thing digitally. I'm curious to hear any impressions!

Just wanted to pop in and say I like the EP a lot. Livid is a ton of fun and I agree it could have been longer. While I have no issues with Jeff's voice these days, I've been saying this for awhile, and this EP only convinces me more, that Wilco should do an instrumental album. Or at least an album more focused on instrumentation. Jeff has a lot of outlets for his songwriting these days, which is fantastic because he's an incredibly consistent songwriter. I will always want more of his songs. But what makes this iteration of Wilco special is the way they play together... the most exciting Wilco songs in the last few years have been Livid, Many Worlds, and Bird Without a Tail. It's easy to see the pattern there. Let's give some room for Mike to do more of what he does, John to get more melodic with his bass playing (and Glenn with his drumming, for that matter), and Pat, Jeff, and Nels lots of space to let it rip.

4 hours ago, knotgreen said:

Looks like Waxahatchee has August/Sept dates, so Spencer is likely occupied for those. Kevin Morby has shows sporadically August through November, which I assume Liam will be playing. Unless Darren comes back to the Tweedy band, my assumption is any future shows would have to work around those tours. 
 

I sure would love some proper solo shows in fall/winter. Maybe Jeff will do another Brooklyn Made residency… 🤞

 

 

Oh yeah good call with the Waxahatchee and K-Mo tour dates! Personally, I would love another solo tour, it's been a few years hasn't it? At least for me, besides some one offs like festivals, I haven't seen Jeff tour solo since Warm came out.

Yeah, I would expect to maybe see some Tweedy or solo shows in the fall and then maybe some Wilco shows late in the year like they've done in St Paul and Chicago before. But who knows how the whole hip thing will effect plans.

I'll leave the full proper recap to the professional, if @bböpso chooses to make one. But...... I suppose it wouldn't hurt to share a few of anecdotes.

Apologies in advance if nothing makes sense, I am running on about 3 hours of sleep!! 🫠

A high school choir came out for the encore and sang next to Glenn, behind the Autumn Defence. Jeff introduced them with the wrong name, I'm not sure if he just said the name incorrectly, or mentioned the wrong school entirely, but he quickly corrected himself and told the crowd that it was Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute Chamber Choir... a mouthful for sure! They fittingly sang on Cruel Country ("all you have to do is sing in the choir") and they stuck around for California Stars. I don't know how Wilco got linked up with them but the kids did a great job. I had a thought before they left the stage... has Wilco ever been outnumbered on stage by Canadians before? They definitely knocked a few letters off the MAPL code, if they ever wanted to release these recordings to Canadian radio. (Does anyone understand what I'm talking about or have I gone too canuckle?)

This was my first time at the historic Massey Hall, in my opinion, the most prestigious venue of this size in Canada. Neil Young famously played a solo set in 1971 that has gone on to become one of his most celebrated live albums. Check out this YouTube channel, scroll down for the videos from 5ish years ago (black+white thumbnails with red text) for some well produced live performances from the theatre, I recommend the Andy Shauf, Sloan, Weather Station videos to start with but there's lots of music there that would interest most Wilco fans. Anyways! This was Wilco's first time playing here since the renovations a few years ago. All the fans I spoke to seemed very positive about the venue's face lift, it seems to me that they approached the renos from the perspective of trying to highlight and preserve the building's history while also add some modern amenities like more than one washroom.

This was my first time seeing Wilco in my home country since March 11 2020. Last time there was a lady in the crowd who shouted out about wanting to stand. Same thing last night (same person? maybe!) and Jeff responded similarly. "We don't get involved with this" but then he mentioned that Glenn had said before the show that we wouldn't because we're too polite. This caused everyone to finally stand for the last 1/3 of the show. It was a ton of fun and I have to imagine the band prefers people standing and dancing.

I was hoping for some deep cuts since so many of them would be freshly rehearsed from the Deep Cut set at Solid Sound. In fact I submitted a tragically unsuccessful request for Blue Eyed Soul. But we got Panthers which was beautiful. Annihilation, the lone representation from the new EP sounded really good live too. There was a point in the set they did At Least That's What I Said and a part of me naively hoped this would be the start of the full AGIB record. Till I remembered they have already played Handshake and Hummingbird. 😅

I wasn't expecting to do this trip but I found cheap airfare and a front row ticket for a, sort of, reasonable price. I wish I was going for night 2 but I'm already back home. Night 1 alone was well worth the trip though! I haven't seen the band since October and I'm guilty for thinking the best Wilco show I've seen is the last Wilco show I've seen. That said, I did think the band was really tight and clearly having a ton of fun.

Via Chicago
Misunderstood
Forget the Flowers
Handshake Drugs
Panthers
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
Meant to Be
Annihilation
Hummingbird
Bird Without a Tail / Base of My Skull
Evicted
Random Name Generator
At Least That's What You Said
Jesus, Etc.
Impossible Germany
Whole Love
Box Full of Letters
Heavy Metal Drummer
A Shot in the Arm
-----------------------------------------------
Cruel Country (with the Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute Chamber Choir)
California Stars (with the Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute Chamber Choir)
Falling Apart (Right Now)
Spiders (Kidsmoke)

On 4/17/2024 at 10:44 PM, Wilc Os said:

I've just had the worst RSD day news in a long time; The Whole Love Expanded LP has zero copies sent out to New Zealand (where I live).  Not a single copy of the 4500 has reached these shores.  I guess I won't be queuing up early on Saturday morning after all.  I was looking forward to this so much and am majorly disappointed.  This on the back of Wilco not including New Zealand on their recent tour "Down Under" (Which I travelled to Australia to catch).  It feels like Wilco has abandoned our little country - And its fans here (although I know this is a label distribution decision, and not a Wilco Band one).

So, ISO - The Whole Love Expanded 3LP.  Will cover shipping to New Zealand, paypal fees etc.  But I'm not interested in Discogs style "Flipper" pricing.  If you're nearby (Australia perhaps) and find more than one copy at your local record store on Saturday, and feel like giving some Wilco Love to a fellow fan then I'm your man.

@bebop @froggie @visions @theashtraysays Perhaps one of you can help??

Keep an eye on the Wilco World US store in the next few weeks, I believe RSD stuff has popped up there afterwards in limited quantities. 

Good for Glenn!! 

@radiatortunes sent this to me before my alarm went this morning, so after I turned it off this tweet was the first thing I saw. I admit in my still mostly asleep state of mind my initial thought was "fuck, that won't fit on my record shelf".

But if they're teasing us, maybe an actual announcement is imminent?! 

On 3/8/2024 at 6:48 PM, Brian F. said:

 

I really find it works best on paper.

🫨

I know what you're trying to say BUT... view the actual book as the liner notes and the CD as a release called "The Wilco Book"!

Great recap Vince! Please bring me back a boomerang. 

Fair dinkum, that's a bloody good review Paul (and Vince).

On 3/9/2024 at 1:57 AM, befubashi said:

8 March 2024, Osaka, Japan

As mentioned, the band moved pretty quickly from song to song. Jeff's comments about communicating through music came after an American-sounding guy in the crowd yelled three times demanding that Jeff "say something". Jeff responded with exasperated looks the first few times (my wife said she thought Jeff flipped him off, but I didn't notice that).  Then, after a song, he said that "an American in the crowd is trying to make this all about himself, as Americans often do." (I'm American too, so it was embarrassing but I had to agree). It was quite the put-down, we didn't hear from the American guy after that. Then he talked about wanting to avoid talking since he didn't speak the language, and preferred to speak through music. He also said a little later that he has never had a bad crowd in Japan. The crowd was very positive and happy. 

 

During California Stars in the encore, he brought out Finom, the opening band, including Spencer on drums. The two women from Fincom sang backup and a verse, and Spencer shook the shaker for half the song, then he and Glenn did a carefully choreographed switching of seats midway, so he could play the drums for the second half. They all stayed on stage for Spiders, the final song, and participated in the audience a cappella  sing-along of the power chords in the second half. Jeff gave Spencer a sweet hug on the way out after the song.

 

All beautiful.

 

 

 

Thank you for the recap! 

On 3/8/2024 at 10:00 PM, theashtraysays said:

…Which was the show that almost wasn’t, at least for me.  

After a rough night without much sleep and perhaps some bad midnight udon noodles, I almost didn’t go to the show cause I felt like crap all day.  Waiting for the delayed bullet train on the 34F degree platform for almost two hours did not help. Apparently there was an incident involving a train and a person somewhere that delayed all the trains from Tokyo to Osaka (including, according to Cheryl’s post) the band.  But come showtime I thought I was stable enough to make it so I went on in during the Finom set which made the wait much less.

Sadly I didn’t make it all the way through the show, having to exit the front area about 1/3 of the way through.  I did manage to get back in to the back area for a few more songs before having to bail before the encore and head back to my hotel.  I’ve never left a Wilco show before the end in my life.  Sigh…

So, Namba Hatch is a somewhat older venue than the Tokyo pair, with a similar setup of open floor and smaller seated balcony.  Much smaller room than the Tokyo ones, with a funky spaceship-like motif inside and out. Once again great sound.  And once again minimal banter, although Jeff did offer this explanation for that while i was still there.   He said that he isn’t talking very much at these shows because he can’t speak the language. But what he can do is play music, and he wanted to communicate with the audience in the language of music.  This did get a very nice response from the audience. 

The setlist had a few nice swap outs, and I was fortunate enough to hear Muzzle of Bees before I had to skip out.

Oh, and I was able to meet Hi-Rose (Rae)at this show who asked if I knew Kidsmoke (the VC person, not the song), and of course WHO DOESN’T??? Nice meeting her and also Osamu at these shows… good to see Japan has their share of rabid / long term loyal fans too.  

 

 

Hopefully there were others who could chime in with any other notable moments. And btw I am feeling quite a bit better today as I make my way to Australia “via Hong Kong”.  

See y’all soon. 

Vince

Glad you're-- wait hold on.

Glad you're feeling better!! Hopefully Australia is full of sickness free.

The timing makes sense for a fall release. Hopefully this means we finally get the Wilco Book on vinyl.

On 1/2/2024 at 1:40 PM, TCP said:

Confirmed:

MJ Lenderman

Sleater-Kinney ✅

J Mascis ✅ 

Waxahatchee

 

Not officially confirmed but almost definitely happening:

Japanese Breakfast

Wet Leg

Foxwarren

 

Hopeful:

Adrienne Lenker ✅ (and or Big Thief)

Courtney Barnett

Bright Eyes

Rolling Blackouts CF

Decemberists ✅

Kiwi Jr

Nnamdi

Mac DeMarco (with lyrics!)

Perfume Genius

Iron & Wine ✅ (third consecutive year listing Sam, it has to happen eventually right?)

 

Not bad for album releases/announcements only 6 weeks into the year. I think this is going to be a good year for music releases.

I've been doing my list in the past few years as a video for friends and family:

But here it is in list form if you don't want to read!

Just for you folks here's my favourite live albums of the year, in no order, featuring new and archive material:

Iron & Wine - Who Can See Forever

Sloan - Alive & Alright

Neil Young - Odeon Budakon (I know technically it came out a few years ago but it's first time on vinyl was 2023 so I'm counting it)

MJ Lenderman and the Wind - Live and Loose

Alex G - Live from Union Transfer

Frank Black & The Catholics - Live 2006

William Tyler - Secret Stratosphere

The White Stripes - Live in Las Vega

Confirmed:

MJ Lenderman

Sleater-Kinney

J Mascis

Waxahatchee

Not officially confirmed but almost definitely happening:

Japanese Breakfast

Wet Leg

Foxwarren

Hopeful:

Adrienne Lenker (and or Big Thief)

Courtney Barnett

Bright Eyes

Rolling Blackouts CF

Decemberists

Kiwi Jr

Nnamdi

Mac DeMarco (with lyrics!)

Perfume Genius

Iron & Wine (third consecutive year listing Sam, it has to happen eventually right?)

I was not planning on going but that's a pretty compelling line up. A lot of artists with genuine AOTY contenders... Joanna Sternberg, Wednesday, Ratboys. Isbell will be a crowd pleaser for sure. 

6 hours ago, Boss_Tweedy said:

Wow! Wednesday and Ratboys were two of the three bands on my wishlist. This is a fantastic lineup!

Same here! What was your third?

8 hours ago, tongue-tied lightning said:

June 13th, 2003 

what a day, VC always feels like home 

Two decades!! 

One of the finest recaps of a book tour show I’ve ever read. Thank you Vince!

Honestly, more bands need to start evolving like Pokemon.

The venue staff were great on night 1 but on night 2 they tried to get us people in the pit to swap seats. Essentially what had happened was for both nights, the venue staff had told the people in the pit that if you were a low seat number you'd be on Pat/John's side. If you were a higher number, you'd be towards Nels. This is contrary to what the seating map had detailed when tickets were purchased, and opposite to how the other seats in the building are arranged, but I don't think the pit people (it's just two small rows) really cared (I was row A, just behind them in night 1, and second row pit night 2). Well, last night literally two minutes before the band came out, staff came and told everyone we had to move. Bbop was sitting opposite end of the row from me, and after we didn't get up the staff went over and talked to them, I'm not sure if bbop heard me, but I yelled out "let's just stay seated". Either way, due to years posting on Via Chicago @theashtraysays @bböp and myself were on the same page and we, along with the people sitting near us, remained seated and everyone got to enjoy the show when the band came out seconds later. I'd be curious to hear what transpired from bbop's perspective.

American rock ensemble.... Wilco!

20 hours ago, bböp said:

The thing with audience interactions is that sometimes you're not exactly sure what's happening or what's being said, depending your vantage point. That wasn't the problem tonight for me and the friends with whom I was standing — at the rail in front of Nels — because it was just our luck that the disrupters did their disrupting literally right next to us.

 

More to come...

Oh my now this is a tease!!

After hearing about the shenanigans today from Wilco diehards @theashtraysaysand @radiatortunesI have to say, I think it's kind of a selfish thing to request a song by yelling at the band midset. That's an uncomfortable position to put Jeff and co in.

I'm surprised there hasn't been a second single yet.