Madcap

I think it was 7 - L to R: horn/keys, horn, drums, guitar, bass, guitar, keys?

Interesting, what would capacity be do you think? 2,500?

Crowds are definitely smaller than I expected but I am really bad at guessing sizes so I’ll let someone else chime in lol

I think it’s pretty obvious why they’re varying their setlists more here. They know everyone here is seeing all three shows so there’s no need to play impossible Germany or Jesus etc every show like they feel compelled to elsewhere. Plus, it’s a lot easier to sell an expensive festival like this if you know that you’re going to see a bunch of songs that you might otherwise hear. I am very curious to see if any of these rarities make their way into the rotation for the rest of year since they had to relearn them!

He did say hola during IATTBYH!

Rain aside, what a fantastic show, although I also wish SVE would have made an appearance. The opening trio was indeed fantastic, did not expect to hear W(TS) so that and Can’t Stand It were very welcome surprises.

I had never heard Calexico before, but their set was fantastic, especially for the beach setting. SVE’s set was awesome too. I caught maybe an hour of The Comet is Coming too and thought they were very good as well.

I came for the deep cuts and the deep cuts were much appreciated. I’ve never been to one of these before and was kind of surprised at how relatively small the crowd was, but I suppose there are limited rooms and being able to easily and comfortably get closer to the stage is a selling point.

Thought Courtney Barnett was great but still really wish she had her band with her. I will say, it is pretty neat to see the musicians out and about. Sharon Van Etten and her family is staying down the hall from us and John and Glenn and families are in our building too. I’ve seen Mikael and Courtney out and about a bit too.

Did anyone go to Mikael’s DJ set last night?

All of the songs of his that i've heard performed by other artists are wonderful, but I just can't deal with his voice.  I want to get excited about this release, but the preview track is kind of difficult to listen to.

I noticed that too, that would be amazing.  Full schedule is out now for anyone who had been looking for it like me!

yeah I know what the activities are, I just want to know when they are!

Two more weeks!  I’m kind of surprised they haven’t announced the activity schedule yet, but hopefully soon.

Still upset they didn’t give us one version of An Empty Corner (never thought I’d say that about a new song)!

Great run, I enjoyed it more than the 2017 Winterlude, probably because OTJ is a significantly better album than Schmilco in my opinion, plus Robyn Hitchcock and SVE were two of the best openers i've seen.  On to Mexico!

When I go to shows I like to see setlist variety, plus its interesting to me to see the stats.  I've never understood why people care about what other people care about.

That’s interesting. I was thinking on the way home last night about how it seemed like 2017 had much more variety than 2019, didn’t think it would be that close!

Would have liked a little more variety in the set list last night, but pretty good when the two “new” songs are Monday and Spiders!

There was a group of three older guys right behind talking the entire show and a group of extremely drunk, extremely loud bros and chicks a couple rows behind me acting like they were at a house party.  I love Wilco, but all the quiet and nuance doesn't scream "party band" to me!

Speaking of nuance - one of my favorite things about seeing multiple shows in a row is focusing for large parts of each one on different band members.  Pat has really impressed me this run, from the keyboard parts, to adding some flavor in the background with the xylophone.  

As I was getting annoyed with the talkers around me last night, I figured that bbpop would have a good review of the venue this time haha.

I wish SVE’s vocals were higher in the mix in both of her guest spots, but it was still great. Happy Xmas was an awesome way to close the show. Hoping for An Empty Corner, Summerteeth and I’m a Wheel tonight.

Interesting. I’m guessing it was Mike or Pat? Anyone else and it seems like it would be difficult for the show to go on.

Agreed.  Chicago Theatre is probably my favorite place to see a show these days.  Good sound, comfortable, pretty to look at.  If they played the Riv or the Vic these days, it would be way too crowded, just like it was in '08, '11, and '14.  

It’s funny how one’s perception of the audience/venue can vary so much by their neighbors. I think the crowds have for the most part been pretty good (you’re going to have talkers and gawkers at any show, no matter the venue size). I counted 11 unique songs from night 1, which was fantastic. Would be nice if they could keep that ratio up!

Slight variations from the same OTJ songs.  Unfortunately, it seems as though the days of the varied setlist in these runs circa 2008-2014 are a thing of the past.

Thought it was a great show (love the Chicago Theatre). I will say that I am not a Bull Black Nova fan, I’ve come to appreciate it over the years, but I’ll never want to see it live, but damn if the version they played last night wasn’t the highlight of the show. I was legit startled when they kicked back in at the end of it after it got quiet haha.

What kind of stuff were they selling? Anything interesting besides the vinyl?

That was my thought when I saw they switched the dates.  It'll be a regular show just like the other 3, just a little tighter.

Shit, that’s something I would have made an effort to pick up if I didn’t already have the album.