theashtraysays

Wilco 

Ticket is sold. 

Funny... less than two weeks after this show, FB tells me that the venue has been renamed as "MegaCorp Pavilion". 

I mean, there's capitalism, and then there's CAPITALism.  Sheesh. 

Ok, what’s this Bull Black drum intro all about? 

1 hour ago, nalafej said:

Mt Joy is likely playing 45-60 minutes. They are a big draw not a typical opening act. 

I really, really like them.  Glad to see they're starting to headline in a lot of places and expand out. 

Don't miss them!!

I hate it here.....  when @bböp's gone.  Here goes.

 

I think I can safely say that we all had a delightful evening in a brand spankin' new outdoor venue just across the river from Cincinnati OH, with a great view of the Cincy skyline, as Wilco digs in to the meat of their Cruel Country tour.  It's a big wide stage, with an ample standing GA pit area; behind that some VIP/reserved tables/boxes and a couple rows of reserved seats, and then a rather small lawn "hill" behind that.  Very wide, but rather shallow front to back and pretty cozy really.  Covered stage but open air beyond that.  Nice venue for sure, and quite comfortable as I don't think it sold quite as well as expected (judging from the "comfortable spaced" crowd and the onslaught of social media ads for the show over recent weeks). 

Courtney Marie Andrews opened with her 4-piece band and played a very solid 30 minute set.  She did quickly wander into oopsie-banter territory when she said "Hello Cincinnati!" and quickly walked that back saying sorry and hi to Newport KY.  The crowd seemed pretty easy going on that - no heckling ensued.  Wee bit of nerdy trivia on her band for y'all.  Playing drums for her now is Joe Westerlund, who has played in a few bands like Mandolin Orange and others, and had worked with Tim Rutili in Califone on the Insect Courage record.  But he also played behind William Tyler when William opened up for Wilco on a few shows including one in St. Louis exactly 6 years ago today! OK, enough of that nerdland visit...

Wilco comes on at 8:30 sharp (still the promptest band in rock and roll), with a couple of immediate surprises.  First, there's a gentleman accompanying Glenn to his kit, with some shakers / maracas in hand, and kinda stands just behind the kit to Glenn's left. Second, band opens up with Handshake Drugs (unique), with the "new guy" keeping time right along.  After the song, fella leaves, and Jeff introduces him (I didn't catch his name) and says that "he played those on the original recording".  

From there, the set was pretty much the one they're using so far this run, with a swap (HMD instead of Always in Love) and maybe a couple adds / rearranges (Tired of Taking it Out on You, and ITMWLY in the set).  The new stuff sounds really great, in particular the extended jams on Many Worlds coda and the post-Bird jam Base of My Skull.  If Ode to Joy was a Glenn record, these songs make the new one a Pat record.  His guitar work on those, along with Falling Apart, is pure joy. 

Baseball banter?  Yep, we had it.  Jeff mentioned that it had already been a pretty full day for him personally, as he was asked to be the starting pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds earlier in the day, gyrating his right arm in a little mock pain and saying that he got yanked after one pitch.  I think he said it was over the plate but also mentioned something about "in the dirt". I don't wanna judge.  He then rattled off all the teams he had pitched for, saying that he had pitched for "all the NL Central teams except one" (Pirates maybe?).  "I don't give a fuck. I'll throw out a first pitch anywhere. I'll throw out so many first pitches I'd need Tommy John surgery."  When he asked the crowd how the Reds were doing, and got a bit of a groan in response, he quipped "Well, they shoulda kept me in there". 

Not a lot of other notable banter that I can recall - there were a few other VC'ers around so maybe someone else can recall better. But one other memorable / quirky event came in the encore, when Jeff starts playing the opening chords to The Late Greats.  I thought it was fine, and everyone seemed to have the right instruments, but as Jeff wandered over to Glenn by the drums, Glenn just kinda looked puzzled at Jeff and didn't come in on his beat, nor did anyone else.  Jeff stops, looks around at the band, lotsa grins, and then starts again (with what sounded exactly the same to me) and the song went along as normal.  Not sure if something was amiss, or just a little prank-the-boss moment. 

Nice little encore, lotsa smiles, and the band walked off just before 1030. 

NovaTrack(tm):

Believe me, I lobbied HARD for the Nova for this one.  "Vote early and often" was my slogan these past few weeks, and I hit it hard on the socials, with puppies, chickens, alliterations, and an attempted brand tie-in ("What's more country than a song about a Chevy?").  Great spot on the rail with perfect sight line for signage.  First sign (Newport Nova Night) got a head shake like a catcher who wasn't in the mood for a slider.  Second sign (OG BBN) a little later got more of a "hey there's nothing I can do" shrug, and alas 'twas not to be.  Kinda don't see that happening this tour, so I think I'll retire the signage bit for a while.  Wonder how that translates to Icelandic? Sorry, digressing already. 

 

As always, a Wilco show is a delightful evening, and this one was exactly that.  And when you get to hang on the rail with folks like @M Christine and @sonicshoulderwith @j4lackeyand @Elixir Sue somewhere in the house, well it's just doggone perfect. 

 

Here's the complete setlist as played, with no changes from the printed version - although the Wilcoworld version this morning had left off I'm the Man, and the printed list had "HMD / I'M THE MAN" on one line so now I'm questioning everything.  sigh.

 

Handshake Drugs

I Am My Mother

Cruel Country

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

Hints

War On War

If I Ever Was A Child

Via Chicago>

Many Worlds (coda only)

At Least That's What You Said

Story To Tell

Hummingbird

Bird Without A Tail/Base Of My Skull

Tired of Taking it Out on You

Jesus, etc.

Impossible Germany

Love Is Everywhere (Beware)

California Stars (with Courtney Marie Andrews on vocals and acoustic guitar, and her band ("Staff") on shakers behind Glenn)

A Lifetime To Find

Box Full Of Letters

Heavy Metal Drummer

I'm the Man Who Loves You

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

Falling Apart (Right Now)

The Late Greats

I Got You (At The End Of The Century)

 

Wilco... again?!?
(Lobbying hard for one more Nova... )

Wilco!

 

Andrew Bird / Iron & Wine tonight.

(and delinquent mention of Roger Waters two nights ago... pretty great week!)

 

I especially love the feature in our “new” board that says “2 years later…” like it’s some cheap movie or tv show. 
 

Almost THREE YEARS since our last contestant?  Sheesh.

 

Anyways, this new record does fit in with the other releases right where @Beltmann predicted.  I sense a trend.

 

AM

BT

ST

YHF

AGIB

SBS

WTA

TWL

SW

WS

OTJ

CC

 

 

Ben Nichols (Lucero) and Cory Branan. 

Bonnie prince Billy. 

Hadn't heard a note of his music, but had "heard of" him somehow.  (Turns out he's from Louisville and I'm in Lexington so maybe that's part of it).  Anyway, I caught his whole set and was really enjoyed it.  A bow on a banjo?  Shiny little stickers on people's faces? 6-piece with no drums? Passing out lyric sheets to the audience?  Every song is just one or two verses repeated half a dozen times?  Word play where the first letter of each line is either the song title or a secret message? 

I found the whole thing delightfully weird and am (obviously) still thinking about it!

12 hours ago, Beltmann said:

I'm having a complicated reaction to this album that seems to be rooted in competing sensors and expectations.

 ... and his expressed desire to emerge from lockdown ready to bring audiences to their feet in communal release, I anticipated that the band's next album would, indeed, contain at least a few helpings of energetic, rousing rock.
 

 

Same here.  The new one does have its musically upbeat moments (Falling Apart for example), albeit with cowboy boots this time.  And some fabulous stories (Story to Tell, Lifetime to Find, Hearts Hard to Find) to be sure.  But storyteller Jeff was more than plentiful with the past 3 solo records.  This one will have to be a grower for sure, and I'll leave it at that for now.

Hugs. 

So far, so good on presales.  Though the Platinum prices for Live Nation / TM seats (Indy) are fucking ridiculous. 

Quote

I think that mostly I just feel a little bit better when I've done something with my imagination that looks at something that is scary to me and I master it with melody just enough to get through those moments.

This is exactly how I feel about Bull Black Nova and why I like it so much.  Panic attacks are much less terrifying when set to music.

Here’s one little tidbit that I think only the real nerds like me (and likely bbop) picked up. 
 

At the end of Poor Places, the Conet recording on the record ends abruptly with the song after “Hotel”.  
On nights 1 & 2 in Chicago, it ended on “Foxtrot”,  but on night 3 it ended on “Hotel” (actually matching the record). 
 

Yeah, that’s my Nerd Notice (tm) for the day. 
Carry on. 

1 hour ago, Brian F. said:

  I still couldn't tell you if the outro to "Reservations" was played like by Pat or Michael (or both) or fed in prerecorded, because at no point could we see what either one of them was doing.

It was recorded. 
 

on the first night, I admit I was slightly disappointed in it being a recording. Especially since it was “live” (looped) when they did it at solid sound. 

But on the second and third night, I definitely think that the band all standing there solemnly with that gorgeous lighting and the “pristine” recorded version was indeed the perfect ending for the show. It was quite breathtaking really. 

26 minutes ago, summerdai said:

There is an easy way to have achieved what they wanted and keeping everybody happy. Van Morrison did this kind of thing with Astral Weeks live a while back, come out and play a set of "hits"/obscurities, then an interval (if they want), then the album in full. Reservations ends and lights up.They could still insert the string quartet halfway through as an overture to YHF

 

"Platinum" tickets for these shows were around $400, for a 70 minute set that's pretty rough.

 

I paid $175 plus fees for front row on Saturday and I loved it. Friday night would have been tougher

 

At the risk of reverting VC back to its heydey and rekindling the ember of controversy (let's leave that to Facebook, shall we?), I've also thought that a simple reversing of sequence would have made a ton of sense.  An opening set of an hour of hits + YHF B-sides, ending with the Jay tribute, then a break, then the new string intro / overture, then YHF, then just stop - would sure seem to accomplish the goal they set out with.  If anything, I think the anticipation building up for YHF in that first set would make it even more amazing and well received. It sure worked at Solid Sound - that "gift" of the YHF encore after Being There was more icing on a cake than any of us deserved.

But hey, they didn't consult us, and Jeff's allegedly good at that "show business" stuff, so alas we're just the armchair quarterbacks and peanut gallery once again.

I'm looking forward to the Chicago shows and will bask in the glow of hearing my favorite Wilco album in all its sonic glory with friends and family. What's not to love?

Cheers,

Vince

Both are sold...

 

4/2 is sold

 

4/3 is still available. 

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