TCP

10/10 recap, thanks Vince!!

He's back!!
Appreciate the reviews and I like the new format. 

God dammit, why do I have to be so good at predicting things? I was hoping I wouldn't want to go. The US is so expensive and the whole Trump thing makes going to the US very unappealing. But to hear Jeff, John, and Pat sing "I'll not say which seaman" or Nels taking the solo in She Came Along To Me... that opportunity only comes once in a lifetime.

5 hours ago, dasradiohead said:

 

 

Or have they already announced it? There's a mermaid emoji at the end of the post. So with or without Billy?

For the record: I hadn't seen that post when I made my Mermaid Ave prediction. So if I'm right, please shower me with praise. 

Here's my realistic wishlist:

Uncle Tupelo reunion with Jay Farrar

Mermaid Avenue night with Billy Bragg

 

Here's my slightly more realistic wishlist:

Mermaid Avenue night without Billy Bragg

 

I think it's been long enough that doing another covers night would be fine. Maybe combine with a theme and do 90s cover night? Let's hear Jeff do Teen Spirit and Jeremy.

Another acoustic night would be fine too and they have some new acoustic arrangements which would work now.

5 hours ago, DiamondClaw said:

Others I can think of:
 

All Lives, You Say?

Tell Your Friends

Cold Water

Life Story

At a Distance

 

These are good suggestions! Totally forgot that Cold Water got released on the Parks and Recreation record a few years ago, I remember Jeff doing it on The Tweedy Show in 2020ish when it was "a work in progress".

This is an interesting compilation, I wonder if they'll do more? Exciting to see some unknown stuff is on it. A Jeff Tweedy Christmas song??!

The previously released stuff is interesting too as we haven't had a successor to Alpha Mike Foxtrot but there has been a number of b-sides for both Wilco and Jeff in the past 11 years, so it's nice to see things being compiled, even if there's some stuff missing. A lot of these things might have passed some people by. But there's a lot else that could be there....

 

Presenting TCP's Most Wanted for dbpm16 :
Wilco's Dig A Pony cover
I'd Rather Be Alone (the other b-side from Love is the King)
Half Life (Ode to Joy b-side)
I Can't (Ode to Joy b-side)
One More Hour (Sleater-Kinney cover from Dig Me Out tribute)
All In It Together (Mavis Staples If All I Was Was Black outtake/b-side)
C'Mon America (Jeff's Sub Pop singles club 7")
UR-60 Unsent (Jeff's Sub Pop singles club 7")
Whisper (Jeff's song from Good Music To Avert The Collapse Of American Democracy)
Drawing From Memory (Charlie) (Warm/Warmer bonus track)
Bell Minor (Jeff's song from For The Birds: The Birdsong Project)

 

 

EDIT:

Oh and the version of Spiders from the Uncut magazine Noisy Ghosts compilation which is one of the best Spiders IMHO.

4 hours ago, Albert Tatlock said:

 

You being Gríma Wormtongue in the court of King Tweedy to my Saruman, what's the news on the e.t.a. of the client written version of Feel Free? Asking for a friend who may have submitted a couplet.

 

Almost died reading that 😵

The pedal steel Stan in me would love to have heard some of James' pedal steel live, plus maybe some of the Love is the King faux-steel guitar arranged for actual pedal steel.

That said, this line up is great on paper. Sima and Macy are fantastic. I'm excited! 

 

In answer to Jef's question, I'm going to choose the lame answer and say none. This is Jeff's first tour with the Tweedy band in a decade, and I missed that tour. I have a lot of Sukierae, Warm(er), Love is the King, and now Twilight, songs to check off my spreadsheet. Yeah, I have a spreadsheet, no laughs please.

Just now, Albert Tatlock said:

Are there always riots then? Gloves off for riots too?

Vancouver does love a hockey riot. I believe they also rioted once back in the 90s when Guns N Roses canceled a concert after doors opened. But both times the Canucks almost won the Stanley Cup, Vancouver rioted after game 7. The second time, in 2011, they did a huge downtown block party with giant screens to watch on. I remember a lot of people being worried about what would happen when they lost. And then they did lose (one of the great heartbreaks of my life) and next thing you know, department store windows are being smashed. My hope is that next time they go to the finals they win/lose in 6 or less.

Great recap Vince! Despite the shortened set, it's a show I wish I could have gone to, alas, Uncle Neil was also playing Vancouver a few days after the Edmonton Wilco show and I had to draw the line somewhere. 

 

On 9/2/2025 at 2:41 PM, theashtraysays said:

The actual venue for this show and the others during the fair was a coliseum inside the grounds, which also housed hockey games (matches? I'm not a local) and the like.  Big place, I heard it can hold 17,000 or so, but for this show the entire upper level was closed off.  Still a big place, with folding chairs on the floor and 100% reserved seating.  Cool wooden radial ceiling.  Downright cavernous with a huge stage and a bit of an echo starting off with Jeff's vocals and acoustic on Story to Tell.  

 

 

Sorry, a little late to this but...

The arena's name is the Pacific Coliseum, which hosted the Vancouver Canucks from their inception as an NHL team in 1970, till the end of the 1995 Stanley Cup Playoffs (where they were defeated by some team from Chicago, ew). They then moved to what is now the Rogers Arena in downtown Vancouver, hence why the 2011 Stanley Cup Final Riots were downtown. Though now that I write that I wonder where in Vancouver the 1994 Stanley Cup riots were? 

And they play games, not matches. Next time we're in Saint Paul for three nights of Wilco in the middle of winter, we're going to a Wild game.

Great recap, glad to have you back for this one.

It was definitely a weird feeling walking into the same exact lobby as I did the night before, despite driving three hours north. Same thing after walking into the actual auditorium. I sat two seats over from the equivalent seats in Calgary and at times it felt like this was just night two of a two night run.

Random thoughts:

1. The Edmonton crowd definitely seemed a bit more excited and engaged.
2. I think this might be the first "standard show" (as in, not an SSF theme night, or a no repeat residency, that sort of thing) I've seen that didn't feature IATTBYH.
3. My parents were in Edmonton and I had two sets of tickets so they came to their first ever Wilco show. They both had a lot of fun. Dad saw the Dead a bunch of in the 60s/70s and I think he appreciated moments like Base Of My Skull... and then, like they knew, the band ended with a Dead cover. Great way to convert TCP Sr into a Wilco fan, guys! Mom enjoyed them too but remarked to my wife during the intermission "I didn't think that one song was ever going to end!" which I'm assuming was the aforementioned Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull. So maybe it's a good thing One Sunday Morning was swapped out, even if I would have liked to hear it again! 
4. I fear in my Calgary recap I positioned 'Bird' as a purely Pat showcase, when obviously it is, at its core, a guitar duet with Nels. I was thinking about that as I was witnessing the two performing it again in Edmonton. Though, I do feel it would be fair to say if one of their guitars was more lead than the other lead guitar, it would be Pat's.
5. I'm not doing Sky Blue Sky (I don't like heat, long flights, beaches, or the sun) so hopefully I don't have to wait too long into 2025 to see my favourite American rock ensemble again.
6. TCP Trivia: This was my first Edmonton rock show since July 16 2003, where just a wee teenage TCP saw My Morning Jacket and Pete Yorn open for the Foo Fighters at the Shaw Conference Centre, not too far from the NAJA. 
7. I'm pretty sure I blocked bbop's view all night. Sorry bbop!! Thanks for not throwing anything at the back of my (admittedly large) head.

Post is updated!

I swear I tried to keep it as concise as possible 😅

Hey everyone, our designated reporter was strangely absent last night. I did hear a rumour online he's been spotted at a show for some band from Manchester, which sounds fun. But somehow, I've been assigned the responsibility for the recap for last night's gig... hopefully I'm up to the challenge. First, let's set the scene.

 

In a year when the United States president has openly talked about annexing Canada and then imposed extremely unfair tariffs in a blatant attempt to pressure the Great White North to joining the union, it's more important than ever that America's greatest rock & roll band Wilco, come north of the 49th parallel to try to ease some of the tensions. Or maybe it was just the online pressure that forced Wilco to book some Western Canadian shows. Either way, the band took the stage for an 'Evening With' performance, their second in the city since the COVID pandemic, to a very grateful Calgary audience. 

Despite my joking in the previous paragraph, the current political situation has forced some of the Canadian members of the Wilco Faithful to avoid US shows this summer, so the band not only performed in front of a nearly full audience of Albertans, but also to fans from around the country, including British Columbia, Manitoba (me!), and even far off places like Ontario. Even though my current home of Winnipeg was rejected from this run of shows (despite not having a show since before the pandemic), I won't hold that against the band. Clearly showing Western Canada some love was a priority before the band embarks on a hiatus that will last at least until early next year.

The band took the stage at 8:07pm Mountain Time. Story To Tell has been the opener for the first sets during this 'Evening With' run and it set the tone for the evening... deep cuts, classic hits, they're all stories that the band has come to tell. 

I was curious what the band's energy level would be at, since this is the second to last show of a long run of shows this summer that basically began in April and, with only a break in July, included a jaunt to Europe, a traveling festival with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson, and a month of these 'Evening With' shows containing about 10 more songs than the usual Wilco setlist. But if they were understandably tired, you wouldn't have known... as soon as they launched into the groove of the second song of the evening, Handshake Drugs, it was evident this is a band loving being on stage and performing together. If there was any further doubt to the band's energy, that would have been annihilated ten songs later when they brought the roof of the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium down with Bird Without a Tail / Base of My Skull. I was seated in the front row directly in front of Pat, which really lead me to appreciate his lead guitar chops on the aforementioned Bird/Skull. He finished the song to a long and loud applause from the audience and I was reminded of my thoughts seeing this song performed last summer at Massey Hall in Toronto... Pat is a fantastic guitarist and I think his guitar work has gone under appreciated by the fans. Which is somewhat understandable when you do have a guitarist like Nels Cline in the band, so it's really great that Pat now has his own signature showcase song. Nels, of course, does a great job supporting Pat with some parts that make the instrumental section of that song feel almost like a guitar duet. When he received the applause from the audience, Pat for his part, directed the audience's praise to Nels via a gesture. I really admire how much these guys like playing together. It's been clear to me with the band members sharing gigs together outside of Wilco shows, and doing things like taking pictures for each other's album covers there's lots of camaraderie across the band in this era. Personally, I think it's heartwarming! 

As for banter in Set 1, early on after the title track of 2023's Cruel Country, Jeff asked the audience if they knew what they had gotten themselves into. He then explained the structure for tonight's performance, two sets with a break in between. He then mentioned that the songs between the two sets would be different. You see, it was Glenn who insisted Jeff mention that because he wasn't sure the audience was smart enough to figure that out. That elicited some playful "c'mon Glenn" from the audience.

Later on in Set 1, Jeff received an "I love you!" declaration from an enthusiastic audience member, which was shortly followed up by a secondary "I love you" from a different audience member. Jeff warned the devotees that they have some competition which got a good chuckle from the crowd.

John received a loud applause from the audience as he stepped up to Jeff's mic with an acoustic guitar in hand to perform 'It's Just That Simple'. Of course it's always interesting to see Jeff on bass, and I think it's sometimes forgotten that during Uncle Tupelo he was primarily the bass player. For those of us that missed that era, we can get a taste of it when Jeff gets handed his very own hollow body bass guitar. Jeff has a notoriously large guitar collection and this is really his one chance to bring one of his (I'm sure many) bass guitars on stage, so it makes sense with Wilco's larger touring configuration he'd want to play his own bass, even though you can't help but wonder for the one song if it would be easier to just pass each other their instruments, like Canadian rock ensemble Sloan does. As I was thinking all of this, the song started but Jeff's bass was't making sound. After consulting with his guitar tech, Jeff was handed John's Fender Jazz Bass, and came in just in time for the second section of the first verse. Did I subconsciously cause the output jack of Jeff's bass to stop working to force the band to more closely emulate my favourite Canadian band? No, but I did find it an interesting coincidence. Anyways, all of this results in some laughs between Jeff and John after the songs conclusion (which also resulted in loud applause for John). 

This was my first time hearing the acoustic version of I'm Always In Love in person, between the acoustic Spiders and Art of Almost, they're building a nice collection of acoustic alternate arrangements.

Via Chicago featured a direct transition into California Stars, Jeff did some of his frantic acoustic strumming fretted high on the neck, along with some sonic additions from Glenn and probably a few other members. Sorry for being vague, I was trying to understand what was happening as Via was definitely done and then before I made sense of it, Cali Stars was starting. None the less it was cool and made the two compositions feel like one large piece.

For the second set, the band walked out on stage to the ominous theme song of Jaws. The threatening music was quickly juxtaposed with a very joyous rendition of The Late Greats. After TLG Jeff noted a number of empty seats in front of the stage slowly being filled and joking invited the crowd to "come back in". At least for the men's room I can confirm the line was long and the bathroom only featured two urinals and maybe four toilets. So if you were hoping to relieve yourself and then grab another drink, the 20 minute intermission wouldn't have been enough. Fortunately by the end of Theologians it seems most of the empty seats were filled again.

After Passenger Side but before Annihilation, Jeff remarked that they like playing a song from their oldest album back to back with one of their newest songs, so we can "marvel at their 30 years of growth".

Later in the set someone near the centre of the front row yelled out something I missed but it lead to a conversation with Jeff asking him if he's with the symphony. He confirmed and Jeff mentioned it was Glenn who recognized him. Which lead to the member of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra proclaiming "well Glenn's the shit". This caused a big laugh but I think it was confirmed that they were both percussionists looking out for each other. I don't know what Glenn has done with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra that causes him to recognize members in the crowd, maybe he's just a big fan? Either way I'm not doing it justice but it was a great exchange.

Throughout the night you could tell certain audience members were itching to stand. In fact during California Stars about half the audience stood. They popped up again at various times, but it wasn't until right before Hate It Here where Jeff encouraged the audience to stand. I'm fairly tall (and extremely muscular... no one fact check me on this!) and was sitting in the front row and am still tramatized from earlier this spring when Bob Dylan fans got mad at me for standing during his performance in Mankato, MN. So it was much appreciated by me that Jeff told the audience to stand, explaining "they're not going to rock and harder" than the upcoming songs. I recall seeing the band back in 2020 in Winnipeg (their last performance there......) and someone asked Jeff if the audience could stand and he told her we'd "have to sort that out ourselves". I don't know where this change of attitude came from but it definitely makes for a more engaging end to the show with everyone standing and rocking out.

 

Anyways, that's all we got time for. The band is off to Edmonton today for a show at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium. Edmonton and Calgary are fierce rivals, so if you're the provincial government and you do something nice for one town like... build a beautiful music auditorium, you have to build an exact duplicate in the other city. See some of you there!

 

 

Set 1

Story To Tell

Handshake Drugs

One Sunday Morning

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

If I Ever Was A Child

Cruel Country

Forget the Flowers

Evicted

Spiders (Kidsmoke) (acoustic arrangement)

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

I'm Always In Love (acoustic arrangement; Jeff on acoustic)

Hesitating Beauty

Hummingbird

It's Just That Simple

Via Chicago>

California Stars

 

 

Set 2

The Late Greats

Theologians

Side With The Seeds

Box Full Of Letters

Annihilation

Sunken Treasure (acoustic arrangement; Jeff on acoustic with no harmonica)

Either Way

Impossible Germany

Jesus, etc.

Hate It Here

Heavy Metal Drummer

I'm The Man Who Loves you

------------------------------------

Falling Apart (Right Now)

Walken

I Got You (At The End Of The Century)

 

Falling Apart was on the setlist as the final song for Set 1. U.S. Blues was on the setlist as the final song of the encore but wasn't played.

Did you enjoy Folk Fest? Sorry about the smoke!!

That's very fair. We have the benefit/obligation of having dogs, so we've planned pauses in the middle of the day to go home and let them out. It ends up being more driving than I'd like but preferable to spending too long out there. The heat, the noise, the walking around, all adds up. 

It's been a very dry spring, so I would imagine the bugs won't be bad. The first few years I went I always brought bug spray but I've never ended up using it. I think they spray the area pretty good for mosquitoes in preparation for Folk Fest. Just a heads up, Manitoba's had some devastating forest fires recently, which has caused some poor air quality and hazy days. But it's been smoke free for the past few weeks.

Coming from the west coast, one thing I've realized is the weather forecasting in the Prairies is much less reliable. I'm not going to put too much stock in the forecast until we're a few days closer. Unfortunately with the Canadian Prairies this time of year, when it does storm it likes to storm in the evening. This can cause delays as they won't let performances happen if there's been a lightning within a certain radius. Let's hope for clear skies or at the very least, storms at the middle of the night.

Are you a Kevin Morby and/or Waxahatchee fan? If so, take note of their workshop on Friday afternoon, sounds like it will be a duo performance which is pretty rare for them. This sort of stuff is always the coolest part of Folk Fest, IMHO. 

I'm ready for the album announcement, the single, and most importantly, the tourdates. Let's go! 

Yeah, glad to see another one drop so soon. I've been biking to work and for the most part Orange was a really good listen for that sort of thing. I played Blue on my way home today and it didn't really motivate me to pedal harder, even if I did love the deep cuts.

Deep Sea Diver is as good as an opener as Wilco has had in the past few years. Well, Waxahatchee too.

It's probably bad mojo playing two sets at Royal Albert Hall. I heard once someone did that and they got yelled at. Or is that Manchester I'm thinking of? 🤔

Listen, I don't know much about nothing, especially religion. I am not Catholic and I'm pretty sure if I walked into a church I'd burst into flames.

 

But!!! This new Pope is the first Pope, after 266 other Popes, that has a reasonable chance of knowing Wilco. First, let's consider other likely Popes:

Pope Nicholas IV? Nope, that dude died 700 years before Uncle Tupelo released Still Feel Gone and therefore sadly never had the chance to listen to Wilco.

Pope John Paul II? Yeah, technically Wilco was formed under his watch but in the early to mid 90s he struck me as more of a no-wave fan.

I hear you asking, what about Pope Heraclius? Unlikely since he was 1) dead 16 centuries before Wilco dropped Being There and 2) was an Antipope not a Pope. I don't know what an Antipope is but it sounds cool (but probably isn't).

Pope Leo XIV though? Let's lay out the facts:

• He's only 69. Just being honest here, that's not that much older than a lot of Wilco fans in 2025. 
• He's from Chicago, so at the very least I think it's highly likely he would recognize the name Wilco as a band.
• He assumed the role of "elected provincial" (??) of Augustinian Province of Chicago on March 8, 1999. That was ONE DAY before Summerteeth was released. Are you telling me someone who just returned to Chicago after a decade in Peru isn't going to check out that new record getting a lot of buzz from that local band while they are getting reacquainted with their hometown? I think, during this time, it's possible he heard Can't Stand It on Q101 while out and about.

Could there even be a chance this new Pope has been to a Wilco show? Maybe! I mean, probably not, but it's technically possible, unlike all 266 other popes (and let's face it, all the Antipopes too).

At the very least I think it's safe to assume the following things: 

• It's highly likely he is aware that Wilco is the name of a rock band
• It's fairly likely he's unknowingly heard Wilco's music
• It's somewhat likely he's knowingly heard Wilco's music
• It's fairly unlikely he's been to a Wilco show
• And almost certainly unlikely he ordered the Super Deluxe 9LP+4CD boxset of A Ghost is Born but........ not impossible

Is any of this important? Not really, no.

On 4/15/2025 at 4:00 PM, calvino said:

 

 Why does Winnipeg get hate from the rest of Canada - sorry - just curious. (living in Chicago we tend to get a lot of hate from parts of the USA)

 

The winters are pretty brutal here. I describe it as 'Winnipeg is the actual part of Canada that Americans envision Canadian winter being like'. They're cold and long. But the summers are hot and beautiful. And I do think the tough winters are, at least partly responsible for the amount of art and music that comes from this city. Out of all the major Canadian cities, Winnipeg is the smallest, yet Neil Young, The Guess Who (+BTO), The Weakerthans, Propaghandi, William Prince, etc etc are all from Winnipeg (or nearby, in the case of Propaghandi). Can you name that many bands from Calgary?

It also has crime and a meth problem but I would argue it's not any different than any other city these days. It's really the only proper size city in Manitoba so you get a lot of people from around the province living in Winnipeg because they can get support to social services. This is a good thing but does result in more homeless people battling mental health issues and drug addiction.

Even with its issues I think it's a city with character and actually has some history compared to other Western Canadian cities. 

You can count on me Mr. Bbop. I mean, probably. If not, Vince will be there for back up.

Last show of the tour, last Wilco show for a while, and your birthday AND Wilco's first Edmonton show in 15 years. Sure to be a barnburner. You've never had a birthday until you've had an Edmonton birthday. 

Who knows, if today's election goes to the Liberal party, this also might be the first two shows in the newly formed Alberta country 🙄

New tour dates and look...!

Quote

08-05 Philadelphia, PA - The Met
08-06 Pittsburgh, PA - Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts
08-07 Cleveland Heights, OH - Cain Park Evans Amphitheater
08-10 Chicago, IL - The Salt Shed (Fairgrounds)
08-12 Chesterfield, MO - The Factory
08-13 Springfield, MO - Gillioz Theatre
08-14 Kansas City, MO - The Midland Theatre
08-16 Denver, CO - Mission Ballroom
08-17 Vail Village, CO - Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater
08-19 Jackson Hole, WY - Snow King Mountain
08-20 Ogden, UT - Ogden Amphitheater
08-22 Bonner, MT - KettleHouse Amphitheater
08-24-25 Seattle, WA - Woodland Park Zoo Amphitheatre
08-27 Vancouver, BC - Pacific Coliseum, Chevrolet Stage
08-29 Calgary, AB - Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
08-30 Edmonton, AB - Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium

 

 

 

Sometimes complaining on the internet DOES work.

 

Now, Wilco, please add an August 31 or September 1 date in Winnipeg. In the meanwhile I'll be buying tickets for Calgary and Edmonton. 

When I got into Wilco, I remember for a lot of people my age, AM wasn't cool. It was "country" and country music was the enemy. This was in the early 00s when country music was "I love America" and rock music was anti-Bush/war. At least that's how us youths viewed it. I recall talking to other teens who liked Wilco (this is the YHF -> AGIB era) and they would always specify "but not the early country stuff". I always secretly liked it though. I'm glad the kids today can listen to MJ Lenderman get as twangy as he wants without judgement. 

I still think AM is a solid album with a few clunkers. In hindsight including some of John's compositions in place of I Thought of Held You and That's Not The Issue might have made a stronger record. Those I'll Provide and Myrna Lee are good songs. I get the thought that Myrna Lee didn't exactly fit the vibe, but I would argue if you took Dash 7 on its own, it wouldn't fit the vibe either. Listen to Those I'll Provide and then Passenger Side, they sound great together. 

It's an album with a lot of charm. It's a ton of fun when the band pulls out these songs live, and with Pat doing his country guitars I think the songs sound better than on record. The end sequence of Passenger Side -> Dash 7 -> Blue Eyed Soul -> Too Far Apart is a great run of tracks and stronger than anything on Trace, IMHO. But I've never really been a Son Volt fan so, sue me.