Rusty Shackleford

Washington Post's take on the show: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/clicktrack/2010/03/in_concert_wilco.html

I can't tell you, or you might take my free dinner.

For some reason, I have felt compelled to use a different name or email address every time I request a song on there, as if that's not ballot-stuffing. (In my defense, I request several different songs, all of which are awesome, rather than ring up a large total for one song, which would be cheating .) Once they started the raffle, I was wondering what would happen if he called one of the several aliases I had used to request a song. "Is there a Rusty Shackleford in the audience?" Alas, neither I, nor Rusty, was a raffle winner last night.

Was there a curfew? I agree the (seemingly) impromptu encore seemed rushed--at one point before Wheel, John had taken off the bass and started off stage--but they played til about 11:15 by my watch. That seems an odd time for a curfew. On the other hand, they clocked in at just a hair under 3 hours of playing time, with hardly any break. Is it possible that the venue has a moving curfew of 3 hours of show time?

Jeff has an ambiguous relationship with the requesters. He's clearly annoyed by them sometimes, amused other times, and rarely plays what the annoying screamers have been screaming for. But every now and then, he plays what they are asking for, and it's enough to ensure more yelling at the next show. Even their robot intro, which handles the thorny photography issue with tough-love humor, basically encourages people to yell out song titles between songs. Presumably they're resigned to the fact that people will yell song titles, so they jokingly refer to the practice in the intro ("you can

Terrific show. An early highlight was watching the Secret Service escort Rahm Emanuel in the side entrance and back to his seats several rows behind mine. Frickin' sweet. I hadn't heard their cover of Thank You Friends before--they really nailed it. The vocals from John and Pat, the guitar sounds, it was awesome. These guys have a future as a Big Star tribute act if the whole Wilco thing doesn't work out.

This baffles me as well. I was at one of the 9:30 shows in DC a few years back and couldn't believe all the yammering from the crowd. This was an event that had sold out within minutes, and for which tickets were being scalped for well over $100 a pop. Every person in that club had burned some serious calories to get a ticket, and yet many of them were treating it like any night out at a bar. I just don't get it.

A-Man makes some good points, as usual. I must admit I enjoy seeing fans' photos of shows on here, and if I could take a decent picture without a flash, I'd snap a few myself. But it does seem like the whole phenomenon of cell-phone photography has exploded recently, and it's gotten out of hand. Ideally, some fraction of the audience would discretely take a few snaps each and be done with it, but that's not how it seems to be working out. I mean, I enjoy the audience recordings of the shows, and I am very grateful for the folks who tape them and make them available, but if the floor was

What hurts the vibe of the show is people who insist on using their cameras when they've been asked not to. Jeff's "hissy fits" wouldn't be necessary if the audience would be respectful. This band does a lot for its fans. They play lots of shows, and in cool venues. They allow taping/trading. They keep ticket prices lower than they probably should. (Consider the tickets they released just today--they could easily have sneaked those onto StubHub like most performers, but didn't). So when they ask people not to take photos, people should put the damn cameras away. Jeff (and the rest of

This. The band couldn't care less about how the circulation of bad photos affects their "brand." (Video, maybe, but not photos). Cell-phone cameras have become a scourge in the modern concert experience. Hooray for the new camera policy.

That's sort of surprising about Nonesuch. I'd never heard that they were dissatisfied with them. Then again, maybe they're just dissatisfied with the whole process of dealing with a label at all. They're at a point where they don't really need the headache. They know how to make records, and their fans know how to find them.

It's kind of weird that they don't do any Uncle Tupelo songs any more--they certainly used to. If Jeff doesn't want to play them, it's his prerogative, but it seems sort of arbitrary, since most of the guys in Wilco weren't in the band when they cut the earlier albums. For Nels or Pat or Mike, what's the difference between Being There and Still Feel Gone? They're both records that Jeff played on and they didn't. Oh, well. The band will play what they want, and as long as they're happy, it's all good. I do hope they keep Big Star in the set for at least one more week, though.

Amazon has this for presale for only $7.99. They've got the whole DBT back catalog on sale, too.

Yeah, I guess that might explain why they don't play southern Florida more often. How big is the venue?

Both Patterson and Cooley have a lot of songs that sound melodically like their other songs. IMHO, none of their music is all that complicated or original--it's just really good. The lyrics are what set them apart.

There've been a few shows pop up on etree and DIME over the past couple of years, including some of the 15th Anniversary shows. I don't recall seeing one from Schubas, nor any video from anywhere.

Incidentally, this show just popped up on DIME. http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=291654

Wilco is number one, but the Drive-By Truckers have been gaining on them. They're pretty different musically and lyrically, but I admire the hell out of both bands.

Speaking as a Caps fan, I think Ovechkin earned his $100 million for that hit alone.

A couple of good Drive-By Truckers songs listed above, but I'd include "Little Bonnie." LITTLE BONNIE On the day that she was buried Her Daddy stood out by the cemetery fence Prayed to God for forgiveness For surely all of this is punishment for my sins They put her in the family garden Said you could hear his heart breaking miles away All the men pitched in and bought a marble angel To mark the piece of land where little Bonnie lay My Grandma said she would keep her in the mornings So her Mama could sleep a bit and do the chores and such She'd read her stories about little girls and m

Just one. On the first night, they invited a fan up to the stage to do "Life in the Factory." The rest was mostly Cooley songs, with a few Shonna songs and one rip-roaring cover of "Rockin in the Free World" featuring about 7 guitars (including some of the guys from Bloodkin, who opened.) The guitarist from Bloodkin, William Tonks, sat in on guitar on both shows and did a great job. I don't know if he's a total bad-ass, or if the songs are just that easy to play, but it worked. Both shows are available at archive.org: http://www.archive.org/details/dbt2009-02-20.mk4.flac16 http://w

It was definitely cool. Funny thing is, I went to 3 DBT-related shows last year, all of which were great: the Drive-By Cooleys show at the 9:30, Patterson Hood and the Screwtopians at the Black Cat, and Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit at the Birchmere. All three shows featured (former) members of DBT playing DBT songs. And yet, I've not been to a show with Hood and Cooley on the same stage. I was hoping they'd swing by here this spring, but I can hold out for a fall date.

I might go up there, but it would be hard. It's one thing when you know the show will be over by 11 and I can get in bed by 1. It's another when the show will go past midnight and I got work the next day in DC. I'm just surprised they're not hitting the 9:30 this time around. This'll be over 2 years since the full band played a public show in DC (i.e. not an inaugural event). They came last February, but those shows were Patterson-less. They just played Baltimore last summer, too. Argh.

No DC date? WTF? (Towson on a Wednesday night doesn't count...)

Since when does Toby Keith wear a headband?