theashtraysays

Squirrel Nut Zippers

 

32 minutes ago, Magnetized said:

Nice report, Vince. How did the unruly audience react to Anbulance? And how was the singing along to the more familiar songs?

Subdued for sure for Ambulance.  Barely a chuckle for the priest joke.  Personally it's my least favorite Wilco/Jeff song ever.  I actually hate that one.  Seemed like he wanted to play a few of the CC songs that they didn't play on tour (as well as quite a few that were on the regular Wilco setlist lately).

 

Singalongs were basically nonexistent.  He tried to get the group going on Cali Stars ("You can sing a long if you know it... I'll sing the harmony so don't sing my part") but it went pretty flat.  Zilch on anything else, and no clapping for Hummingbird (although Jeff did do his whistling outtro, which is kinda rude to clap over I suppose). 

"Is the whiskey starting to kick in?  Does whiskey work like that?  This is Kentucky - Do they just give you shots on the way in?  Oh, it's bourbon here?  Sorry."

 

It was just that kind of a show - very much unexpectedly, at least for me, as this was a pure Jeff solo show, in an historic movie theater here in MY (usually calm and reserved) CITY of Lexington KY.  But the rowdies were very much in rowdy form this evening, and it did make for a lively evening indeed.  The Kentucky Theater is celebrating its 100th anniversary this month, and apparently they enticed Jeff to do a one-off solo show shortly after closing out the 2022 Cruel Country tour.  Two songs in, Jeff acknowledged the 100th anniversary, saying that they invited him back "because I played the grand opening too".  The theater was quite full (allegedly sold out), and indeed was selling alcohol, and of course, popcorn. 

Musically, it was a lot of Cruel Country and YHF, along with a lot more Wilco and veryfew Jeff solo tunes sprinkled in to the 21 song set.  Crowd stayed seated through the main set, then stood for the encore applause and stood throughout the 3 song encore.  A short opening set by Le'Ponds started things off with a very mellow vibe, which didn't carry over to Jeff's set and maybe just pent up the rowdiness.

 

But with the rather vocal crowd, banter corner was the star of the show.  Continuing with the recent "Era of Good Feelings", Jeff actually thanked the crowd for the love and support toward the end, saying that he was grateful to the audiences like this for keeping him in this business for so many years.  He commented that he used to be uptight about such things, but now "do whatever you want."  He then lamented his lack of stage presence, once again saying that he really WANTED to be more David Lee Roth (complete with "assless chaps") but that he just can't pull that off. 

 

Four songs in, and before things got too out of hand, he decided that he needed to tell us that he had eaten some "bad softshell crab" earlier in the day and that things were getting a little dizzy up there.  This was perceived by the audience as their invitation to start multiple conversations with Jeff, including "where did you eat?" ("I'm not gonna say - I wouldn't want to get sued."), and ended up with Jeff trying to end that particular set of exchanges by saying "you don't need to know any more about that other that what you've already been told - and that was a gift." 

After "Orphan", he mentioned that "I get to play a lot of these kinds of celebrations... mostly due to songs like that.  There's usually a beach ball." 

When someone shouted out some kind of encouragement ("you're great!"), he said that his stage appearance generally solicits those kinds of comments ("it's kinda my brand.. "Is He OK?" ").

There was a particularly odd exchange where someone shouted out what sounded like "you were great at Carol's" which Jeff took to mean the surprise shows in Chicago, and had to comment that Carol's is a bar in Chicago, and clarify that it didn't mean that Jeff was great at some woman named Carol's house.  But the shouter clarified that she really meant that Jeff was (or would be?) great at Christmas carols.  "Thank you.  But I'm Jewish.  But all the great Christmas carols were actually written by Jews.  You can look it up." 

At that point Jeff confided "I'm gonna let you in on what's going on in my performer brain right now:  You Must Regain Control".  Which he attempted.  And quickly failed. 

As he then started Passenger Side, he noticed after the first verse that his guitar was still in a non-standard tuning from the previous song, and had to stop and re-tune back to standard.  That break was met with various hollering and commentary, with someone in the audience yelling out "must regain control!".  Jeff quipped "did you all hear that too?  most of my thoughts don't project like that.  But this is gonna take a while for me to re-knit this thing back together". 

As he started the first notes of "Please Tell My Brother", someone hollered out something about wanting to dance with Jeff Tweedy.  Jeff said "that usually doesn't happen when I'm holding an acoustic guitar, but go ahead and knock yourself out".  A few more misplaced hoots and hollers continued well into the first verse, getting a very clear headshake from Jeff, who was able to finish the song in relative silence.

Cali Stars was met with some rather poorly timed clapping, prompting Jeff's horse-like leg stomping off-time, as well as some pretty weak singing along for the chorus upon Jeff's invitation.  

The encore was a little more settled down audience-wise, with Jeff's only comments being about Glenn, since Glenn got a percussion degree from here in Lexington at the University of Kentucky.  "That makes him the most overqualified drummer in all of rock and roll" and that "he still talks about you guys all the time."  Kinda late in the show for pandering, eh Jeff?  

Lots of enthusiastic applause as Jeff left the stage after the 3-song encore and ~90 minute set.  Not sure if he'll ever come back to our little tertiary town, but I'm sure he won't forget us for a while!!

 

Here's the setlist as played.  I don't think there was a printed setlist per se, but a list of songs that Jeff seemed to be choosing from on the little table with his harmonica.

 

I Am My Mother

Cruel Country

Gwendolyn

The Universe

I Am Trying to Break Your Heart

New Madrid

Ambulance

Via Chicago (with harmonica)

Tired of Taking It Out on You

Ashes of American Flags

Orphan

Country Song Upside Down (on 12-string)

Kamera (on 12-string)

Passenger Side (started in wrong tuning, then restarted)

Jesus, etc.

Please Tell My Brother

California Stars

Lifetime to Find

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

Hummingbird

Falling Apart (Right Now)

I'm the Man Who Loves You

===========

 

Cheers,

Vince

 

(Oh, for those wondering... no there was no sign.  It's going on its own hiatus for a while. It's time.)

 

Jeff Tweedy!

In my very own town!!

Quote

9. Laminated Cat (Aka Not for the Season)

 

Apparently this is as close as we're gonna get this tour.... alas. 

It's an open house at the Loft..... which is really a "help us unload the truck day". 

 

HEY MARK, ORDER MORE DONUTS!!!!

 

But it's still a secret so don't tell nobody, ok?

Nikki Lane! 

9 minutes ago, Yaz Rock said:

 
. Also, Amazon is selling the 8-CD set for $68.95

This really surprises me. I’m no fan of Bezos (although I think our household has contributed at least a couple of valves in the booster rocket), but forty bucks and free shipping is tough to pass up. Mine arrives today. 
 

7 hours ago, chuckrh said:

Glad you got out ok.

Thanks. 
It was a little surreal as we were leaving. Lots of folks on the public beach filling sandbags. Lotta plywood going up.  Lines at gas stations, and then later along the drive most gas stations were already out of gas. 
then today as we’re driving up I95 through GA and SC we are seeing tons of the electrical bucket trucks heading south. We counted for a while and it averaged one every 30 seconds. 
The area we were at is getting hit pretty hard. Lotta water coming in. 

Dana and I had just started our weeklong vacation on Sanibel Island on Saturday... Sunday was fabulous as was Monday morning!!

Today (Tuesday) AM they declared mandatory evacuation so we skedaddled up to St. Augustine - will overnight here (and then Asheville tomorrow) on our way on back to Kentucky. 

Sigh...

“Canadian Former Obnoxious Twenty-One Year Old Confirms Vince is Right Again’l

 

Achievement unlocked!!  
 

Cheers, eh?

8 hours ago, HeatherBlue said:

Whoa, many years later, and I'm searching the internet, with my troubling question: "Should I bring my 7-yr old to the Wilco concert next week??" And I'm driving my husband bonkers going back and forth on it.  We have great tickets, it's an outdoor venue, but she can be sensitive to loud sounds/noises, and we're in the 5th row. Am I nuts to even consider bringing her?  

I will say that Stan has been keeping the volumes up pretty high lately, both indoors and out. 

And the Via Chicago cacophony is still there in a big way every night.  

Just be prepared...

On 9/13/2022 at 7:32 AM, bböp said:

The encore, meanwhile, was another series of moving parts. I didn't actually notice this myself, but I guess the techs initially brought out guitars for Jeff and Nels that could possibly be used for a certain song suggested by the show's official poster — which caused one fan in particular who was right up front within earshot of Jeff to comment that he liked that combination of instruments. To which Jeff replied, "It's not what you think." Haha. Anyway, the whole thing became a moot point anyway, when the techs were sent scrambling to bring out a different set of guitars for another song entirely.

 

Not that I pay attention to these things (OK, yes I do), but during the last tour in the PNW, Bull Black Nova was on the setlist maybe 1/3 of the time.  And Laminated Cat was almost always there if Nova wasn't.  And for those two songs, Jeff and Nels both use a similar guitar for both songs (same tuning I suppose), each using a very well worn sunburst-like pattern Fender.  So when the techs brought out those two guitars during the encore break and put them in Jeff and Nels' guitar stands, I did indeed notice.  And the prominently placed black bison/bull on that night's poster was another potential clue that the CC Nova-drought could perhaps be coming to an end. 

IMAGINE MY DISAPPOINTMENT though, when Jeff calls over the techs to bring them something else, and those two guitars get relegated back to the case unplayed.  Hence the comment to Jeff "Hey, I like that one!", and the "it's not what you think" reply (which I believe means that they were intended for "The Late Greats", which was on the printed setlist as the first song of the encore but then got scratched in order to add "Monday").  Alas. 

 

One of the very noticeable things I saw was how close the band was to the audience.  The venue has a rather low stage, and there were seats in the true orchestra pit section what went right up the the stage lip (no rail).  The band was set up fairly close to the front of the stage, something we didn't see at all during the PNW run last fall, when they were always set back a good 10-15 feet.  Those of us in the front row were pretty good about hanging back against our seats (while standing) and not doing the elbows-on-the-stage thing to keep from getting a little too up close in the wake of the pandemic.  (Less than 1% masks at this indoor space btw). 

The only other noteworthy point here is that the band didn't hit the stage until 8:32!  The promptest band in rock squandered 120 seconds!! I'm sure there was hell to pay at the post-show debrief for whatever caused that little hiccup. 

I can't quite tell if BBOP's IOU for more reportage was fulfilled or not, but wanted to add a couple things from this show.

Given the decidedly non-fancy locale (you could park on the street but supposedly not in the grocery store parking lot across the street) and chain-link-and-asphalt parking-lot-turned-venue, this show had the potential of being a rather loose, unique little show.  And it was. "Plains" was an interesting but fitting opener, with the band packed into a small semi-temporary stage without the usual "Wilco doily" backdrop.  From there, we had the usual stuff setlist-wise, though US Blues was a treat for me at least. 

From the stage, apparently the band could see over the fence onto the street / sidewalk near the brewery.  Jeff pointed out that there was a person standing on the sidewalk enjoying the show for free, and jokingly encouraged him to "buy a ticket you sonofabitch!"

But the star of the show was clearly the train.  As was mentioned, it was REALLY close to the audience and even closer to the stage, with only the aforementioned chain link fence in between the train and Jeff's / Nels' guitar stash . While us railbirds were waiting for the opener, a rather long freight train rumbled by for a good 4-5 minutes which caused us all to wonder how that would play out during the show.  Sure enough, (during Hummingbird I think?), a lone engine slowly approaches the side of the stage on Nels' side.  Nels gives the universal elbow-pump "blow the horn" signal, to which the engine cheerfully obliges and everyone gets a laugh.  The engine then stops right next to the stage and just sits there taking in the show from a really nice side-stage perch.  After a song or two, and a little more horn blowing that wasn't totally without proper timing, he backs up and goes out of sight again, prompting Jeff to quip "some people will do anything to see a show for free".  I personally think that if Wilco were to become a 7-piece outfit, the train conductor should consider applying. 

Other tidbits for the show was that the beer was quite good, and plentiful as you'd expect.  The food stands were a bit more sparse, with a "bomb dog" (not nearly as good as it sounds) and pizza wagon being the only offerings.  Staff was nice (and plentiful... while waiting on the sidewalk, we wondered for a bit if the staff-to-audience ration was going to be > 1.  The three sheriff's officers near the gate seemed like overkill for Fargo, but indeed there were no scuffles so I suppose it was alright. 

All in all a really fun, out-of-the-way show in a town that you could tell doesn't get many of them. 

More Wilco!

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!)