jimjiminy

My friend Doug and I drove from SLC, UT and met our friend Seth, who flew up from Phoenix. I haven't been following this tour so I went in with no expectations. In fact, I didn't even know Minus 5 was opening so that was a pleasant surprise.

Any way, we loved the set but I agree about the lack of singalong. WE certainly sang loud and proud in our section on the floor toward the back. It seemed like a lot of people were simply not familiar with what to expect at a Jeff Tweedy / Wilco show. I couldn't believe the amount of people getting up and going out to get drinks during songs. Rude, rude, rude. I mean, at least wait until a song finishes to get up and then wait for a pause to sit back down. I thought that was standard theater etiquette. 

But... the road trip was well worth it. The venue was beautiful with amazing acoustics.

Completely unrelated, but on the way home we stopped by CO Ranch House in Aspen for lunch. Very tasty.

This was my first Tweedy solo show. I'm sort of a latecomer to Wilco (2005-2006ish) but I have managed to see the band six times now. I've been a huge fan of his solo performances ever since I got my hands on the various Letters for Santa recordings. One of my biggest regrets is that I didn't see Tweedy in Nashville and Knoxville years ago when I was in Tennessee, but I wasn't a full-fledged Wilco convert at that point. Imagine my excitement when I saw the announcement that he was coming to SLC and even more when we pulled seventh-row center seats. The view was absolutely perfect. (Although, one of my friends was sitting third-row center so I'm sure that wasn't a bad view either.) The nice thing about Kingsbury Hall is that there really isn't a bad seat in the venue. It is nicely designed.

Here are a few random thoughts, since the previous posts are quite thorough:

My wife and I had invited another couple who are relatively unfamiliar with Wilco. As we left our friend asked, "Is he usually that funny? I was laughing the whole time." Even though the set started out quite focused, as mentioned above, he got pretty chatty about half-way into the show.

Yes, the Utah audience was quite respectful. I sort of had to sing along under my breath and missed that communal aspect to some songs. 

After "Alone" my wife turned to me and asked if I had ever heard that song before to which I replied, "Of course. It's one of the YHF outtakes." I guess that puts me in the freaky fan category.

Even being a native Utahn I have to say it was cold last night. I hope Jeff Tweedy had a positive experience and will come back to SLC in the future. And now I just have a few weeks until The Autumn Defense comes to a small club right in my backyard in Provo and then another show in SLC!

My friend knows The Flaming Lips, particularly Derek Brown. He's seen them a dozen times and has been backstage a number of times. He got involved with their street team in the early days and has kept in touch with the band over the years. When they came through Salt Lake last year he scored all-access passes for a bunch of his friends. While I'm not a huge Lips fan--I do enjoy nearly all of their work since Soft Bulletin--I jumped at the chance to go with my friend. He and I arrived to the venue around 3:00 PM and Wayne Coyne immediately put us to work. We disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled thousands of mini-laser pointers. Wayne sat and chatted with us as we all worked together prepping for the show. I even got to dress up as the Scarecrow and dance on stage with the band throughout the show. I was so impressed with Wayne's work ethic. That guy worked non-stop from the time we arrived until 1:00 AM after he finished signing posters and taking pictures with all the fans that had danced on stage. That was definitely one of the coolest experiences. Everybody in the Lips camp, as well as the openers, Le Butcherettes, were gracious and friendly. (Well, Steven Drozd was rather asocial and didn't interact with fans, but other than that everybody was super cool.) I can't wait until they come through again and hopefully have a similar experience.

This was my fifth time seeing Wilco and first time in Salt Lake. I’m in my mid-30s and Wilco is the only band I’ll travel to see. I flew down with a friend to see them in Phoenix earlier this year. (Front row tix, btw.) But yesterday I only had to drive up from Provo, which is where we currently live.

This was also my first time going to a show at Red Butte Gardens. Our group of 13 staked out a decent spot in the shade, spread the blankets, opened the cooler and enjoyed the atmosphere, food, and conversation until Blitzen Trapper took the stage. I’m mostly familiar with Furr and haven’t followed their catalog closely. Nevertheless, they proved to be a solid opener for Wilco. The crowd response was polite but tepid. I think there were only a total of four or five fans that went down to the front to watch them. My friend joked, “Looks like there’s the president and vice president of the local chapter of the Blizten Trapper fan club. Oh, and here comes the secretary.”

Wilco came out around 9:00 and played nearly two and a half hours. Jeff stated they don’t come here often enough (agreed) so they needed to play a few extra songs (and we were grateful). The crowd certainly did not mind. I don’t know what the Tribune reviewer was thinking but I wouldn’t have used “jam band” to describe last night’s show. It seemed to me the band stuck to the basic live arrangements of songs. But maybe he didn’t like the Nels’ fury on “Impossible Germany” or the descending Shepard scale on “Born Alone.” There may have been some extended jams on “I Got You” or “Hoodoo Voodoo” but it didn’t seem excessive.

Any way, a few highlights from the show:

The juxtaposition between “Sunday” and “Art” stood out quite strong and it got the crowd up and grooving to the syncopated rhythm.

This was the first time my friend and his wife saw Wilco. After the first implosion on “Via Chicago” my friend’s wife turned to me and asked, “What just happened? Did something go wrong?” I explained that, no, that was actually part of the song and that the musical breakdown reflected the tone of the lyrics. She replied, “Why? That kind of scared me at first.” Well, it's a scary song.

After “Via,” Jeff paused for a few minutes to chew out a security guard who was apparently being a bit aggressive to the fans close to the stage. (The throng was off to the side of stage right since the first 20 rows or so of center stage were reserved for donors to the gardens. Jeff also commented that those in the VIP section must have been extra tired from working too hard since nearly all of them just sat through the entire show.) I can’t remember everything Jeff said to security but he used his sarcasm and wit to defuse the situation. I hope a recording surfaces because it was one of the more funny exchanges I’ve seen at a Wilco show.

One final note: Four of us in the group are solid Wilco fans and we wanted to stick around in hopes of meeting the band. There was a VIP after-show party but I know that sometimes Jeff, John, or Glenn will still come out and say hello to fans. But not last night. We spoke to venue security who confirmed with band security that they would not be coming out after the VIP party. Bummer. Based on conversations with long-time fans, I get the sense that Wilco has been doing more of these VIP parties and less of the informal after-show meet and greets with fans willing to wait outside the venue. I find that a bit disappointing but I don’t want to come across as some whiny entitled fanboy. Wilco gives so much to their fans and who am I to expect or demand more after a blistering 2½ hour set? Oh well. I’m sure it will happen at some point. I would just like to shake Jeff’s hand and personally thank him for his wonderful music.

All in all, it was an excellent show in a beautiful setting, which I thoroughly enjoyed with friends.

EDIT: The one time I missed Jay was on "I Got You." I think his live solos on that song were as close to rock perfection as you can get. Other than that it is Nels all the way.

Here's the setlist. I'll be back with another post reviewing the show.

One Sunday Morning

Art of Almost

I Might

Muzzle of Bees

Misunderstood

Impossible Germany

Born Alone

Far, Far away

Whole Love

Box Full of Letters

Pot Kettle Black

I’m Always in Love

Heavy Metal Drummer

I'm the Man Who Loves You

Dawned on Me

A Shot in the Arm

Encore 1:

Via Chicago

(Jeff chews out security guard)

Jesus, Etc.

Late Greats

Walken

Hesitating Beauty

California Stars

Encore 2:

Red-eyed and Blue

I Got You (At the End of the Century)

Hoodoo Voodoo

Sorry to hear about those that did not get pre-sale tix. Good luck in the general sale. The whole waiting room was off-putting. I think I got in at 9:55 and then offered the chance to get tickets at 10:15 or so. I ended up pulling front row, John/Pat side at Tempe. Two other friends miraculously pulled two sets of two tickets next to each other at 6th row center. I've never been this close to the stage at a Wilco show, so I'm really excited. I'm hoping they'll come through Utah and Idaho at some point. I miss living in Nashville when it seemed like they'd come through nearly once a year.

I have to agree. A weird thing is that, in Whole Love, it looks like he's playing a "D" shape with his second finger fretting a note at the 2nd fret of the high e string, (see about 11:05-11:00 minutes left in the video) that sounds more like a fretted E note than an F#. But, like you said, he doesn't retune his high e string for Born Alone.

Maybe it is Dropped-D. I'm so used to playing it in DADGBD now that I'm not sure I could go back. I like having that high D drone note. I guess we'll need to wait for a Jeff solo video or recording before we're absolutely certain.

Hi Sarah, I wish I had more time to make up a proper tab; maybe somebody else can do that. But after watching the "Tiny Desk" performance a few times, I believe these are the chord shapes Jeff Tweedy is playing. The hardest part was the bridge since the camera only shows what Jeff is doing in a few snippets, but I think this is pretty close. I hope my system makes sense but if it doesn't I'm sure somebody else will come along with a proper tab. Good luck!

“Whole Love”

Tuning: DADGBD "Double Dropped-D"

Chorus: D1 G F#m1 Em9

Verse: D2 D3 / D4 riff

Bridge: Em F#m2 Em A7 (twice)

Whole love: D2 G (000320 on outro)

D1: 0799x0

G: 5x04x0 (sometimes 5504x0)

F#m1: 440200

Em9: 224000

D2: 09x11xx

D3: 02x4xx

D4: 0002xx

Em: 222000

F#m2: 244222

A7: x02020

(1^st time: slide up to x04030 back to x02020 to x20200)

(2^nd time: x04030, x05050, x07070, x09080 to D2)

That Am/G chord on the "Tall buildings shake..." walkdown should actually be this chord voicing: x02110. Watch a few solo Tweedy videos and you'll see that that is what he is playing. The bass is playing a C# on the recording, which would correspond to an Am/G# with the capo at the 5th fret.

Hope that helps.

My wife and I drove from Salt Lake, got checked into the hotel, and arrived to the venue just as "Wilco (The Song)" was playing. This was our third time seeing Wilco and it was definitely worth the drive. I wanted to get there earlier, but you know, work and all that.

We started out on Pat's side, but as was mentioned, there were lots of talkers and not too many hardcore fans. For "Jesus, etc." my wife and I were the only ones that I could see in our area who were singing along. I did enjoy seeing several little kids dancing and twirling around. During "I'll Fight" we decided to find a better place and made our way over to the soundboard. The sound was absolutely crystal clear and there were more fans that actually knew the words to most of the songs. Also, it appears somebody was recording the show, so hopefully it will surface at some point.

For fun, during the encore, I told my wife which song they were going to play next based solely on Jeff's guitar and capo placement, if he was using one. I had to hear the first note of "Kingpin" before I could get it, but she was amazed.

Highlights for me included the newer songs, since the last time we saw them was at the Ryman Auditorium, 2 March 2008. (Wow, it's been too long between shows.) "You Never Know" rocks live. "Mountain Bed" was also a special treat.

Overall, it was a fantastic show in an amazing setting. I can't wait for them to come out West again and play multiple shows.

I've messed around w/ the Nashville tuning before, but mostly using it for overdubbed rhythm tracks or arpeggios. It's worth trying, because as GtrPlyr points out, it may inspire some new tunesmithing.

Cool thread. A-man, glad to see you're a U2 fan.

I was introduced to the band about a year after Achtung came out. U2 was the band of my adolescence. I wasn't as rapid a fan as some, but I bought a few bootlegs and saw them three times. I also have 100+ live shows and DVDs. Wilco, however, is the band of my adulthood.

I'm excited about these remasters. I thought they did a great job on JT, finally fixing the problem with Exit being too quiet in the overall mix. I'm really excited for whenever Achtung Baby and Zooropa are released.

Ugh. I never thought I'd buy another copy of October - ever. But, looks like I will.

my definition of a true song is one that stands up as a solo/acoustic version. To me, that's when Spiders is at its best.

Amen. Although, I do have to say that the band version of Spiders (Kidsmoke) from Toronto 4-21-2002 (JHamm DVD Vol. 10) is superb. In fact, I'm going to go watch it right now...

Hey, I think that's a good thing. You're just tapping into the rust.

right now, the price per gb seems lowest in the 500-750 gb area. go to the 1tb drives, and the price jumps way up.

That's good to know.

I would also like to throw in my endorsement for Seagate. My 500 GB external drive has been solid.

Wow, I'm a huge Neil Young fan...

Ah ha!!! The verses on "Sea Change" remind me a lot of "Western Hero" on Sleeps with Angels. Very nice stuff. "On a Wire" is great. It certainly evokes some Neil. I dig the pics as well. Is there anything more beautiful than seeing a floor covered in mic cables? I submit that there is not.

I would assume so. I've used an external to go back and forth between two different computers running the same version of SONAR.

Ditto. I've never had problems switching between setups. You just want to make sure you are running the same version.

BBW - good luck on the upgrade. I need to add an internal drive, but I'm thinking of taking the TB plunge. Man, I remember when my two 40 GB drives set up on a RAID were the cat's pajamas.

what about the Sesame St version of Outtasight?

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks Outta Mind (Outta Sight) sounds like Sesame Street. During the intro I fully expect to here "Sunny days, sweeping the clouds away..."

And "Leave Me (Like You Found Me)" needs to be left right where it is...on the album.

Geez...I dunno. U2 was the band of my adolescence and early adulthood. I consider Achtung-Zooropa-Pop the triumvirate in U2's catalogue (that's right, I'm one of those fans). I liked ATYCLB well enough but I think Bomb is their first crap album, when considering Bono's statement of 'two crap albums and you're out.' I really hope the sessions in Morocco helped them reinvent themselves, like Lanois has alluded. I'm skeptical of the new album that supposedly will be out in the fall (which means it will be out in May 2009).

I love U2 live. I've only seen them three times and I will probably see them again, but I don't know if I can stick with this band until 2020 unless they keep producing mind-blowing music. Damn, I'm starting to sound like my thesis advisor when I was getting my MA. He was a big 80s U2 fan but kind of petered out with Achtung.

Some of the Rusties may lynch me for saying this, but I really dig She Sleeps With Angels. I suppose I recommend it since it was the second or third Young album I purchased. Although my dad knew a bunch of Neil Young songs on the guitar, I don't recall playing many records at home growing up, which is strange since CSNY was Saturday chore music. Any way, I got into Young during the Harvest Moon / Unplugged period. So, She Sleeps With Angels was my first introduction to Crazy Horse. Even though I now have most of the official releases (that guy is just so damn prolific!) I still go back to Sleeps about once a month.

I also dig the Dead Man soundtrack. Man, it's been awhile since I've seen that movie.

Welcome to the world of Neil Young. It is addicting.

"Good Vibrations"...but from the Purple Chick SMiLE reconstruction. So, maybe that doesn't count.

Gracias por el archivo.

Hmm...not a great song but it has a groove. I like the double-tracked vocals at the beginning. In my opinion, any one of the b-sides is better than Leave Me (Like You Found Me). I'm not a fan of Wilco's foray into adult easy listening.

I hear a lot of The Edge in the lead guitar part. Maybe it's the delay, the harmonics, maybe it's how it provides atmosphere to the driving rhythm of the bass and drums. I bet U2 wishes they could still right songs as good as this.

I like this song, though.

We danced to "Slow Dancing" by U2. The singer and other guitar player from my high school / college band performed for us. When the guitar player got married, we sang the song at his reception. Finally, after many fiancees and many years, the singer got married and we played it at his reception. The circle is now complete.

The rest of the time we had a fingerstyle guitar player named Larry Pattis perform. He's really good if you like that sort of thing.