Central Scrutinizer

Are you sure it was rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock?

I was front row directly in front of Nels, and my mix featured his amp, and to a lesser extent Jeff's and Mikeal's. I loved the sound but vocals were fairly drowned out. But at a Wilco concert, not hearing the words doesn't affect your singing along ...

The venue holds nearly 4,000 so I don't think it was that poorly attended. But thank you Wilco, for playing the "tertiary markets" like St. Aug -- they surely would have gotten a bigger crowd in other Florida towns but I'm eternally grateful for having Wilco in practically my very own backyard.

1,300 is the number I got from multiple ushers/security. They closed the entire upper level after tickets were on sale for a month.

Despite Tweedy's reference to sub-tropical conditions and general bugginess, I just love this venue, and am just sorry -- and frankly quite surprised -- more people didn't take advantage of it. Some attributed it to Jane's Addiction playing at the Florida Theatre, but Wilco sold out the Florida Theatre in a matter of days in 2008. By Monday, they were offering half-price seats for Jane's Addiction.

I am curious about others' view of the opening act. I thought they sucked, highly uncharacteristic of a Wilco opening act.

Amazing set list, and how they managed to mix new songs into the mix. Just an awsome opening eight songs, concluded by an inspired solo on Impossible Germany by Nels, using a gold Les Paul from Duane Allman. Towards the end, Tweedy gave Nels a look of utter amazement. The axe may have come from Allman, but it was all Nels' by the end of the night.

Tweedy didn't talk much, but it was an upbeat and edgy performance (for a bunch of dad rockers). Glenn held it together during a power outage (I don't know if it was at fault or a result, but one of the amp heads (presumably John's) had to be replaced.

It was an embarrassing turnout for the First Coast; by one estimate there was only 1,300 people there. But th audience was on its feet and vocal. Got to meet John briefly after the show.

Hard to gauge from the front row, but it sounded excellent -- especially being directly in front of Nels and his set up. Saw mics and a nice recording setup near the sound board, so keep my fingers crossed that a recording will be forthcoming.

I've had pretty good luck on requests, including stuffing the ballot box of seven of the top 10 songs for a 2008 show and they played all seven.

Those are handicapped seats. They free them up a few weeks before the show. I got two front row section 101 the first day of sale, so we sound like we'll be neighbors.

As a writing tool there's no point in me using anything other than an acoustic unless I'm wanting to shake myself out of some kind of rut and play something where I have no idea what's happening.

Jeff says that like it would be a bad thing.

Haven't been on the board much in some time, and this was likely posted elsewhere, but what's with Jeff and the Hummingbird Jumbo with "Bob" on it. I had never seen him play a jumbo but now he's frequently shown with that and a Rickenbacker.

[Edit: Nevermind, comes up in the interview. Still he says he's had it for years, but haven't seen it on stage much]

I'm just saying wishing for certain crowd favorites to dissapear just because you're stalking them might not make you a dad but it sure is an incredibly selfish attitude. Not everyone has the time and or money to attend multiple shows even when they are in the same general area as you, that shouldn't be to hard to realize.

Paying to watch a band is stalking? Actually, it's the dedicated fans will will pay to see more than one show in a blue moon that enables the band to return frequently enough for someone to see them on a whim every once in a while. To use the U.S. term: put up or shut up. To use a Europe analogy, it's like Greece or Italy bitching at Germany complaining about money instead of bailing them out more frequently.

Could not agree more with ya, a good horn section can take things to another level for me. smells like flowers, if you don't know about it and don't have an aversion to them, watch the Black Crowes DVD Into The Fog. All from one night at the Fillmore in SF in 2005. Horn section is fantastic on stuff like Welcome To The Goodtimes and The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down. If you are a horn section fan, you will probably appreciate it.

Then there's Little Feat's Waiting for Columbus with the Tower of Power horns. One of the greatest live albums of all time.

when you go see them at almost every god damn show but most people aren't in a position to do that.

Depending on your geographic area, the band does a decent enough job of enabling any real fan to see an average of 2-3 shows a year (within a 4-6-hour driving distance). The band also has a roadcase on its Web site, provides several live webcasts per year, plus Owl & Bear, bt.etree.org, dimeadozen make recordings of practically every concert available to anyone. It depends on how avid you are, but knocking someone's tastes as "dad rock" just because they pursue the band more than you is a little disingenuous. Actually arguing someone follows the band too much is more of a grumpy, "dad rock" argument.

When I first saw the subject of this thread, there were several songs that immediately came to mind (and if the songs listed were folded into a survey they're probably among the most common. In anticipating a show, you can almost script 12 songs right off the bat -- obligatory songs, including several of the ones referenced in this thread, and songs from the latest album(s). Then choose six from another tier of 12-18 songs that play at least every 3rd show. Several of these songs seem to set up at least one companion song, due to how Tweedy seems to set up his playlist (concerts that start with "Sunken Treasure," for instance). From there it's a good chance most are requests from the site and wildcards.

There were several shows that I stuffed the ballot box on requests at wilcoworld.net -- one local show I hit on 8 of the 10 songs from the stacked deck. Having heard half of them, I don't think I would have requested them again; not that they weren't great songs, but it was nice and I experienced them, so move on.

Certainly one of the most fan-friendly bands, Wilco over the last five years has hit upon a range of approaches to give its fans what they want -- playing every single song in the catalogue during the Chicago residency, the An Evening with Wilco tour with 35-song setlists including an acoustic set, to curating their own fesitval and opening their work individually and collectively, and variations in the latter from one year to the next.

I'm not entirely enthusastic to hear some of the newer songs live, realize that even some of the "regular" songs had different nad more appreciated approaches, different nuances that they won't have this time or the next time around. But being fan friendly, they look to keep it lively and there are always nice surprises within each set and performance (with few exceptions).

Ultimately it's a give and take and I'd rather take Wilco's act as a whole than live with those things I'd rather tinker with in a perfect world.

i thought i held you.......... (long shot!)

Hey Froggie, what was the song when Jeff called you out from the stage?

Monday, with horns!

Any song, with horns!

 

The tour with the Total Pros was awesome. They didn't play on all the songs, just the obvious ones and a few inspired additions. At the Jacksonville show in '08 the second song was Blood of the Lamb in a New Orleans-style arrangement with lead clarinet. I still get chills just from remembering it.

St. Augustine Amphitheatre has a pit area that is either general admission without seats, or outfitted with cheesy resin lawn-furniture-type chairs. Fit is about 10 rows deep and its the best you can get view wise. Front row is a bit farther from the stage than usually. The seats number right to left facing stage, so you're like 4th row center.

Behind the pit, and raised a bit, are permanent seats. The bowl arcs pretty well, so sight lines are great. Sound is excellent within the bowl. In fact, I saw Steely Dan at this venue and they started early, and I didn't realize it despite being in line at a concession stand behind the bowl. Once we went intside, the sound was excellent. I had 6th row for Steely Dan. Hopefully Wilco fans within the pit will agree not to sit!

I grew up with the Monkees, from being 5 and arguing with my teenage brothers because I wanted to watch Marvel Super Heroes instead of Monkees (1965). Then on Saturday morning TV, through the revival on MTV in the mid-80s, and various rerun revivals. My 15-year-old watched the tapes I made from MTV when she was younger and collected most of their music; she really got into some of their interesting, obscure stuff from later years. For her birthday I took her to their Jax show on the tour last year; did the VIP treatment. He did a great deal of dancing during the performance, they did music a good amount of songs from the movie Head. When we got pictures taken with them after, I spoke with him briefly about touring and at the moment (probably as tired as he was) he complained that they were being "handled" and showed up when/where they were supposed to.

this makes me nervous about the 'loudness' of this record. i thought wilco(the album) was mastered way too loud and didn't have half the dynamic range of SBS. why does this record have to compete? with what? it's not like people are saying...'oh this record is my loudest record, so it's my favorite.' if anything, people are saying the opposite.

"You don't do Wilco in Dubly, you know."

We are driving from Florida, have tickets for Sunday, but hope to go both nights if anyone has two to spare. Thanks in advance.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

I wish the overall lineup wasn't so meh. Outside of Jeff, Neil and Willie, that is.

Norah Jones? Meh?!?

It makes sense, but I disagree. AGIB was very sparse, to me, and that is one of the things I love about that recording. No reverb, very close to the listener, very quiet. SBS and W(TA) are very busy (thanks, Pat/Nels), lush and produced. I can't stand when current Wilco plays AGIB tunes, and the last thing I want would be to have them re-record that album. That's partially why I dislike KT so much - new Wilco photocopying a smudged photograph of a perfect portrait.

I hear what you're saying about AGIB, but it has never resonated with me for that reason. It's a nice occasional listen in one setting, but the sparseness ... I wander away in my thoughts, then realize I just missed most of the last song. It may be that I heard it more in parts than in whole the first time.

I would say AGIB, but in a bizarre twist, I wish it to recorded in an alternative world so that rather than re-creating it, the time between Jay and Leroy leaving and the new line up -- particularly Nels -- joining would be compressed, and this lineup would *make* AGIB. I wonder how the lineup would have dealt with the tension, the approach of the album's creation. Would Nels be a different player within the context of the band than he is now? Would jumping in with both feet into the band and into the studio with O'Rourke have led him to spread his wings differently? Would the roles of Mikael and Pat have played out differently? I believe Wilco's sound would have evolved differently than it is today. Once Nels joined the band, they ended up making the AGIB songs their own, essentially adapting them because they were the most immediate songs to tour with. Sky Blue Sky, as much as I *like* that album, would probably never have been made; certainly W(TA) wouldn't have. Those two albums are seen as a sort of transition (or at least that's a hopeful perspective). I'm wagering that if the current line up takes more chances in the studio on the next album, it's closest kin will be AGIB.

I know I'm generalizing, but I have lived in both the northernest of northern cities, and the southernest of southern. In my experience, if you walk down the streets of.. lets say Boston and say hello to someone, they will give you a look like "what the fuck are you looking at?"... In a southern city, they will kindly say hello back. I made the mistake of asking for directions one time in Jersey, and the guy told me to fuck off...

 

I know I'm just generalizing, but southern hospitality does exist. At least for me it does.

My experience in the south has not been the same. To me the difference is that guy in Jersey will tell you to intercourse off, "southern hospitality" would be to completely ignore you and to describe to someone nearby how such a person should intercourse off.

I think Faulkner and Flannery O'Conner had it right. Southerners are twisted in taking pride in the lie, in perceived class functions, and downright dishonesty and disrespect. I have lived North and South as well, and I'd rather people be upfront for better or worse.

I realize there's another thread for W(TF), but it's pretty much conquering the camping issue.

I also realize that as curators, the boys in the band are going to mold and shape the roster of artists to perform. There's a million artists that would be part of a pie-in-the-sky lineup, but it's fun to think in lines of artists that seem a natural match with the band, through style, past affiliation, wishful thinking, etc.

One artist that immediately came to mind when looking on the map for North Adams is a known performer, located about 70 miles away as the crow flies, who I saw in an intimate performance a few years back: Levon Helm.

This discussion comes up frequently, but I honestly believe it has become a bigger problem over the years, and it's not just concerts. The advent of iPods, cell phones, PDAs and texting has made people oblivious to what is an appropriate and inappropriate setting. You go to movies and people chat throughout, talk at the screen, make cell phone calls. Go to a restaurant and people yammer on a cell phone two tables away droning out the conversation you're trying to have across the table. People are so hung up on their inner monologue, their inner soundtrack, that the outside world is just background noise.