sandi

I was there too. I had a great time at the show. I was lucky to get my hands on the album early enough to know all of the songs so I was able to sing along (quietly to myself so as not to disturb my neighbors!) even to the new songs - which was great. I'm one of those weirdos who has a better time when I know all of the songs played (or at least 95% of them!). I would have been a little disappointed with that much new material had I not known it, but only because I am a bit of a fanatic when it comes to our beloved Wilco.

I agree with the sentiment that the crowd was a little odd. I had a person next to me who was completely socially inept and was clueless about personal space and personal boundaries. There was plenty of room in our aisle yet she kept bumping into me and elbowing me, etc. Let me add that she kept elbowing my in the belly and I am 9 months pregnant. I would take a step or two closer to my neighbor on the other side and she would move a step or two closer to me. It was very bizarre. In addition to that, people in my aisle kept coming and going throughout the show as if they had no interest in seeing the performance at all, just wanted to get more beer. My section (center section 6 rows back) did seem to be fairly quiet during Wilco, thankfully - other than cheering. They weren't chatty during the show, which was nice. Although the entire crowd seemed to chat throughout Nick Lowe's opening set which I found very annoying because he was playing so quietly and everyone was talking really loud. It was difficult for me to hear his set.

What was up with that crowd?

Regardless, I didn't let the crowd (or the belly elbows) get me down and I had a fabulous time. I really enjoyed the entire show - even a big ass belly couldn't keep this booty from shaking.

Highlights for me (although I seriously loved it all):

-SAY YOU MISS ME (yes!!!!!)

-Whole Love

-I Got You

-I also LOVED the part when Tweedy said that it's hard to sing along to songs you don't know - get used to it and when he said "PLAT-INUM?!"

-I had a "multi-instrumentalist" sitting to my right - he played air guitar, air bass, air drums, was a super (loud) snapper, and a great hand-clapper. He was an enthusiastic listener and obviously a huge Wilco fan. It was fun to be seated (although neither of us sat of course) next to him - and to top it all off, he had a sense of personal space. Even with all of his bopping around, he never once crowded me or even bumped into me and his enthusiasm was infectious. That, my friends, is a great concert-goer and someone you want seated next to you at the next Wilco show. I don't know the guy, but he was certainly one of the more pleasant members of the audience.

One more thing - did anybody else have trouble with the staff? I was really harassed by one of the security guards/ticket checkers each time I tried to return to my seat after going to the restroom. (A side effect of being 9 months pregnant is having to pee every 10 minutes.) I left to use the facilities maybe 3 times throughout the night and each time he would grab my arm really hard to stop me as I was walking by, and ask for my ticket. The last time I wasn't thinking and didn't have it out in advance, so I had to search through my bag to find it. It took me maybe 30 seconds to find it but he was extremely rude to me, threatened to "eject me" from the venue and held me there until I located it and showed it to him. It seriously took me about 30 seconds to come up with the ticket - which I didn't think was too long. Ridiculous. Perhaps there were a lot of 5'2" women there who were 9 months pregnant who look like me and were sitting in the same section so he had to ask for my ticket each time... but even if he didn't remember me on trips 2 & 3, you would think he would give a girl more than 30 seconds to find her ticket before threatening to throw her out. Grabbing my arm seemed out of line also... Maybe I'm just pregnant & emotional, but I was pretty P.O.'d.

I loved the show and love the band, but really dislike that venue. Hopefully next time they'll return to the DPAC. Excellent venue & excellent staff!

I don't know about anyone else, but now that I've heard the album a few times this one keeps popping into my head. It's definitely got a dance in your bedroom kind of energy.

Agreed. Am 8+ months pregnant & that's not even keeping me from dancing around my bedroom! Hopefully it won't keep me from the show in 10 days either!!! (Raleigh, NC) Might wind up going into labor at the show from all the excitement & dancing when they play this and quite a few others: Heavy Metal Drummer, Monday, Outtasite, I'm Always in Love, & the list goes on & on & on!

I am loving the entire album but this is definitely a stand out.

I have 2 extra tickets to the Raleigh Amphitheater show on Sept. 27. I am - of course - selling them for what I paid for them: face value ($40 each) plus the $5 each service charge. That's $90 total for both tickets. They are great seats, 3rd row in Section 1 (right section - 1st section back from the stage - 3 rows from the stage). I am now going to the show alone and am selling my 2 extra tickets.

PM me, respond here or send me an email at sandishortcake (at) gmail (dot) com if interested.

Looking forward to the show!

I will post here & also send to your email. I have 2 tickets in the 3rd row of the front, right section (Section 1) if you are still interested. My friends bailed on me so I am going alone & have 2 extras to sell. They are GREAT seats!!!!

PS. Selling for face value of course!

I think it mostly had to do with being a new poster to the board and making a comment like that with only about 20 posts to your credit.

There's an unspoken common sense/common courtesy over holding off on posts like that until you have reached a certain # of posts.

 

I better watch myself then! I've been to quite a few Wilco shows (lost count at 26) and have been reading the forums here for ages, but have only posted 10 times (according to the count below my name)!

About the photo thing, I enjoyed the new photo policy. It was nice to not have the distractions, I was just curious about how long they had been doing it because it was a first for me at a Wilco show.

Now on to the music: So far I've seen 2 different recordings posted of the Durham show - one from the balcony & one from near the soundboard. (I'm still looking for the one from the guy in the 3rd or 4th row at the show Saturday night.) The balcony recording is not too great but the one from near the soundboard sounds pretty good so far. Has anybody found any other (good quality) recordings from the Durham show?

Was there an APB sent via Wilcomail about the "raffle"? If there was, I must've missed it.

I missed it too and I've been on the emailing list for a long time...

wow. never seen, heard or witnessed U2 used in the same sentence as wilco before.

 

not sure if i will ever stop throwing up.

Hysterical.

I was at the show (Wilco, not U2! haha) and enjoyed it immensely. Great energy, great setlist, great night. We were right up front between Pat & John until some women who were 1 row in front of us and dead center came up to us and said "We have seen you dancing and singing along to every single song. Would you like to switch seats with us? We are right in front of the lead singer." So we did. I didn't think our seats could get any better, but they did. What a night! It was my first big night out since my daughter was born (a year ago!), so the timing of the seat swap seemed like divine intervention.

I am curious though - what was the "raffle" for the Piedmont (where my husband works!) gift certificate? I was wondering how they chose who to give it to - just randomly through requests?

Thanks to the band for playing both of my requests: Summerteeth & also Airline to Heaven (for my little brother who died recently).

Also, when did the new "no photos allowed at all" policy start? Security was REALLY strict about it apparently! I enjoyed not having to see tons of flashes and cell phones out...although I must admit, my cell was in my back pocket throughout the show in case the babysitter called with an emergency and I actually snapped one photo (after a few beers) before I remembered I wasn't supposed to. I promptly put it away and didn't take any more.

Such a great show, I wish I was going to be able to catch a few more shows this tour!

-Sandi-

Yeah - I just tried too and there was no link. I emailed website support about it - but my thought is they sent up the email before checking to make sure the page was up and running.... I just noticed that the newsletter was sent out about 5 minutes ago - so hopefully they're working on it right now!

Glad to hear it's not just me though. I was just very confused and kept thinking - I've only had one beer it can't be this difficult! Then I thought "maybe there's a secret link somewhere". haha. I searched and found nothing.

looks like the scalpers won this round... i was there at 10 and was first one inthe pool but nothing... sold out by 10:02...

Yeah - I was in the system before the clocked turned 10:01 and didn't get a set. DAMN IT! I had already made sure I could get those days off of work and started looking at prices for flights! What a bummer.

That was the last show for the Heartless Bastards (are you sure that was the name of the opening band?). Anywho, they broke up.

Yes - they were the Heartless Bastards (http://www.theheartlessbastards.com) from Cincinnati, Ohio (Erika is originally from Dayton). I'm sad they've broken up. Opening for Wilco the other night was the 2nd time I've seen them play and they were great both times.

I really enjoyed the Charlottesville show and agree with all of the positive reviews. I've seen numerous Wilco shows over the years and that was (so far) one of my favorites - until the next great one of course. I wish I hadn't read that "Box Full of Letters" was on the setlist! I had been content with the show but am now thinking "man! That would've made it PERFECT!" Isn't that always the case?

As for the a-holes - I have to agree with (some of) those comments. To be fair, I was surrounded by a lot of great people (as is typical at Wilco shows) and only a handful of jerks. One group of college kids, which started out as 4 multiplied right before Wilco went on to more than 10. That is obnoxious. If you want to be up front, get there early (ALL OF YOUR GROUP). They pretty much behaved themselves during the show - much to my delight. I had an issue with 2 girls who decided to hump my leg in order to get me to move out of their way so they could move about 2 feet and stand in front of me. One finally decided (when the humping attempts weren't working) to shove the crap out of me to get me out of her way and unfortunately the shove was hard enough to spill my beer all over . What a shame. People aren't supposed to shove and push at Wilco shows. It just seems so out of context to me. As a 5'2" female, it is really irritating to have people push and shove to get right in front of me and then just stand there and block my view. All in all, they were very minor issues and were quickly forgotten once Wilco took the stage. It was a great show and the crowd was really into it and very energetic.

It was great to see Lilac Rain dance with Jeff once again to "Hummingbird" - it's always a highlight of the night for me. It's fun to see the band so happily interact with a child... There wasn't a face in the crowd without a smile. Very heart-warming.

Can't wait for the next tour!

Great show! It was definitely worth the (3 hr) drive from Carrboro. I was thrilled that the crowd was well behaved enough that we didn't have an instant reply of Wilco's last trip to Ovens (great show but Jeff was in a terrible mood in response to some hecklers in the audience). It's interesting to see how diverse the "Wilco crowd" is ... gets more diverse each tour. I enjoy seeing the progression.

I think the little girl Jeff brought on stage was the same little girl he danced with during "Hummingbird" at the last Charlotte show (and possibly the Asheville show 2 years ago). If so, she is as cute as ever and is growing like a weed. It was fun to see Jeff do his little running-in-place dance (that he always does during "Hummingbird") with an enthusiastic dance partner. Other pleasant surprises: "Always in Love" (!!!) and closing with "Heavy Metal Drummer".

Only had one annoyance during the show and that was when I leaned over to whisper to my friend that I was going to run to the restroom, the girl in front of me hushed me. This was of course after putting up with her talking to her friend throughout the show. After the song (and my trip to the restroom) I kindly reminded her that should she feel the need to shush me again, I'd be happy to let the guard escort her back to her ACTUAL seats. We didn't have any problems after that. It wasn't a big deal, but it's things like that that make me wonder if someone should write a handout on concert etiquette and distribute it before shows. It seems like in modern times, people forget that you aren't supposed to talk during concerts (besides the occasional whisper of "right on", etc.), you aren't supposed to answer your cell phone (let alone have your ringer ON), it's rude to shout things when the singer is in the middle of chatting or singing, etc. etc.

But I digress... and anyway, complaining makes me feel old.

Great great show. I'm excited at the idea of seeing them multiple times supporting the new record so I hope they announce many more tour dates soon.

Also - did anyone else notice what I thought of as a "back to basics" stage setup? I felt like "Sky Blue Sky" was a back to the basics album (in that it didn't have quite as much noise and feedback and was a straight-ahead rock album - imho) and I thought it was cool that their live show seemed to carry that same back to basics feel: no backdrop, no movie/slide screen, pretty basic lighting, and the band seemed to be pretty compacted on stage - not as spread out as the last tour... set up more like they would be on a smaller stage, in a smaller venue. I think it gave the show a really cool feel - made me feel more like seeing them back in the earlier days when they were playing much smaller venues and clubs.

Whoever was taping last night - please let us know when the show is available and where!

Great show - but too many annoying loud mouths up front who don't understand common courtesies like not talking throughout an entire show (esp. an acoustic one) and not annoying the performer amongst others. Great set. No "Gun" but that wasn't completely shocking. (So I'm listening to it now from his Vic performance a while back.) There was even a Brian Paulson dedication, which was sweet.

I was blinded by plenty of flashes, so I'm assuming someone will be posting some photos soon? Were there any tapers there?

I need to get to bed (have to be up in 5 hrs) - setlist coming from Jeremy (who was sitting behind me) otherwise I'd attempt one right now. Basic overall thought: Fantastic performance - lousy loudmouths. Last time loudmouths annoyed me this much was at the Charlotte show - what's up with NC Wilco fans?