Muzzle of Dan

Was playing trivial pursuit the other day and the question was along the lines of:

The bands Wilco and Sun Volt formed out of the breakup of what band?

Shouldn't that read:

The bands Wilco and Sun Volt rose out of the ashes of what band?

What an incredible show.  I feel so lucky to have gotten the opportunity to attend such an amazing night of music and entertainment. 

Jeff Garlin is a really, really funny guy.  The off the cuff bit about the dogs coming to get him and playing an Andy Kaufman bit was hilarious; as well as the whole airplane story.

Jeff gave a really beautiful and inspired performance, despite being terribly sick.  After seeing the show in Santa Barbara, it was great to be a part of an audience that was the exact opposite of that one.  Everyone was so quiet during the songs and it was so beautiful to be able to hear everything so well.  The intimacy of Largo was also alarming - watching Sunken Treasure was like being in a trance.  Jeff was so close and the music was so clear and present.  I will never tire of hearing that song in any arrangement.

I will also never tire of hearing New Madrid.  It's a wonderful song,

Pick Up The Change was great.  Love the harmonica on it.

I couldn't believe my ears when he launched into Black Eye.  I literally grabbed my girlfriend and whispered "Holy shit, this song is SO good."  What a beautiful performance of a wondeful and sad song.  All Jeff's vocals throughout the night were filled with so much emotion and tinged with a raw edge (probably due to the cold, but it made it sound REALLY great).

I seriously LOVE Radio King.  That song feels so good.

Nothing Up My Sleeve was beautiful.  After the whistling solo at the end Jeff mentioned that his whistling was in good form and perhaps he should just whistle the rest of the songs all night.

I loved hearing the acoustic arrangement of Art Of Almost - Jeff ended it by saying - that's where that song started out... I could have played the guitar solo... it's easy... all the other parts of that song are easy... I could have played them, but they're too easy.

Jeff was really in a warm and friendly mood tonight.  Lots of funny banter others can help me to piece back together...

Cars Can't Escape is always welcome.  Loved the added reverb on the ending tonight to give it a tinge of psychedelia.  He didn't do that in Santa Barbara.

Before going into The Long Cut, Jeff called out that the song was requested by someone who just couldn't let go of the past.  I am guilty as charged here - it's definitely not like I can't let go of the past.  Wilco has not made a record that I don't like at least a bit.  I thought the Whole Love was a great record, but danm The Long Cut is a good song and that can't be denied.   I had been requesting this song like crazy.  I love the performance of it from The Lounge Ax bootlegs from January 2000 and I've always wanted to hear it live.  My band even recorded a demo of it when we were just starting out because I loved Jeff's acoustic arrangement so much.  It was so special to see him play this tune tonight. 

I had also been requesting Dash 7 equally as crazy and it was equally as mindblowing that it actually got played.  This song is so, so beautiful.  I feel so fortunate to have witnessed the performance of this rare, early tune.  The intimacy of Largo and the vulnerability of Jeff's performance came together to make magic with the one-two punch of The Long Cut/Dash 7. 

One True Vine is great.  Jeff sounded so good.

Jeff started playing Red-Eyed and Blue and some folks started cheering.  Then he stopped and threatened to abort the song because he didn't feel like playing it.  Then he went back into and that's where the sing-along portion of the night began.  Jeff was clearly happy to have the support of the audience and the show took a really fun turn here after all the virtuosity that had taken place leading up to this point.  Love the arrangement of I Got You.  Jeff thanked everyone for singing along and welcomed suggestions of more songs we could sing along with.

Summer Teeth was so much fun.  I really enjoyed getting to do the audience participation backing vocals at the end.

Magazine was dedicated to Nate - Jeff's friend, who's not really his friend, but a crew member/employee and not someone Jeff is friend's with at all.  Apparently he always requests this song.  Jeff started and then stopped saying he didn't want to play it.  The audience volunteered to help and then he gave in and started into it.  Everyone started out singing and then Jeff goes "do you guys actually know the verses?" before going into the first verse.  I think we did pretty well.

Someone had shouted Hummingbird when Jeff was asking for suggestions of things to sing along with.  He decided to try it - I don't know if it was supposed to be on the setlist anyway or if inspiration hit.  It was probably one of the best solo performances I've ever heard of Hummingbird by Jeff.  He didn't flub and chords and got all the words with the support of the audience sing-along.  He also nailed the whistling solo.

I love the acoustic arrangement of Always In Love.  Another good sing-along song.

The Late Greats was so awesome acoustic.  I love this song and I was so pleased to hear it - as I haven't really noticed Jeff playing it solo much.  He was really having fun at this point, laughing at little chord flubs and imperfections of the arrangement.  At the end of the song he said - "Nailed it" and laughed heartily.  I actually thought it was quite good.

The Thanks You Get was where things really got silly.  Jeff started the first few chords and then aborted saying -"I was going to play..." and someone yelled [ "play it."  Jeff asked if he knew what song it was and a few folks shouted the title.  Jeff then remarked on how much he was stopping and starting the songs and then noted that he was just recapping the situation that had just played out and then launched back into the song.  We all tried to do the call and response section too early and Jeff chided us playfully.  He kept on and then when we got to the call and response section he was hesitant and said he didn't want to do it.  Then he went on with it and did it anyway but told us that he thought we could dig deeper and do better, so he wanted to try it again.  Then he launched into the aforementioned David Lee Roth Banter from some other shows and lead to Jeff saying Fuck the Fun-Havers, etc.  He never stopped playing the two chords of Thanks You Get the entire time he went off on all the banter and even remarked that he had never been able to vamp under banter.  He mentioned that he had a "real groove going."  Then by the end of that diatribe he said he didn't want to go back into the call and response cause he was over it.  Then he decided to do it but said we needed to try harder and do better.  We did it again and Jeff was really pleased with the results.  We kept going and then when Jeff changed the melody and we changed with him, he stopped and asked why we did the same melody change as him.  He then went off doing silly voices and making us imitate them saying "We can make it better" in sillier and sillier high and low and charactery voices.  The whole thing ended up with Jeff making fart noises in time with where the words would go and we all made fart noises back at him, in turn.  It was probably at least a 10 minute version of Thanks I Get with all the craziness that happened throughout the song.  Jeff was in rare form and clearly having an excellent time.

Jeff thanked us for being a great audience and said that he truly had fun before ending with A Shot In The Arm - another excellent sing-along song and everyone sang along quite boldly.  This is also a song I will never tire of hearing.  It's too good.

This was probably one of the most fun evenings of entertainment I've ever had.  There were so many beautiful and vulnerable moments in the early part of the show and then everything got so warm and fun.  Jeff is truly my favorite songwriter and live performer of the modern age.  I'm sad that I won't see any other shows at Largo, but I told my girlfriend on the way home between the experience of tonight's show and the setlist of tonight and Santa Barbara combined (only 5 songs played at both shows!), there is nothing else that could pop up on any future setlist that would make me feel like I missed out on anything.  Santa Barbara was beautiful and weird with a great setlist and tonight was just perfect with an equally great setlist.

I want to put some positive vibes out there to Jeff.  I hope he is feeling better after a day of rest.  He mentioned during the show tonight that he was leaving it all out there on the stage and giving us everything he had.  He said they were going to have to scrape up the green globule that was left of him and put it into the limo because he was giving us everything he had.  I truly believe that he was not holding back even an ounce.  Jeff gave us a really special performance tonight at Largo and it might be one of the greatest live performances I've been fortunate to witness.  I can only equate it to Michael Jordan's flu game - any other old Bulls fans out there?

Despite the rude audience behavior and hi-jinx, I really enjoyed this show.  I felt like Jeff's playing was really emotional and articulate (perhaps due to said hi-jinx) - especially in the instrumental segments of songs like Laminated Cat, BBN, Chinese Apple.  The instrumental bit at the end of Laminated Cat was perhaps one of the most charged and inspired versions I have ever heard.  It felt elongated and especially furious - even compared with the tapes of shows floating around from the current tour.

The arrangement of Bull Black Nova was incredible - even with the little aside to the annoying clapper.  If Jeff is going to tell someone that they are annoying as shit, BBN is at least an appropriate song to expel some rage.

It was my girlfriend's first Tweedy solo show.  She felt sorry for Jeff that the crowd was so rowdy and disrespectful, but was equally happy with how good the performance was - and that she got to hear Remember The Mountain Bed, Bull Black Nova, Shot In The Arm and Hummingbird. 

I had been requesting Wait Up, Cars Can't Escape, Blasting Fonda and Chinese Apple - so it was pretty surreal when he played them all in a run with Ruling Class included as well.  As Anthony said - The System Works!  I know some others were also requesting to hear Chinese Apple - thanks to all involved for getting that song on the list.  It was a real treat to hear.  I love the groove of that song and the guitar parts are some of my favorites.

Wait Up was just as beautiful and magnificent as I had anticipated it would be - I felt really lucky to hear that one, in particular.

Cars Can't Escape is such a great tune that I've requested for loads of Wilco shows, but this was my first time hearing it live.  

Blasting Fonda was exceptional.  The guitar work on it was really superb.

I really enjoyed the solo arrangement of Kamera.  That song has really grown on me a lot since hearing it live a few times.

I love Dawned On Me as a solo acoustic tune.

Sunken Treasure is so beautiful and Jeff should definitely play more harmonica!

It's definitely a bummer that some songs got cut and the crowd was being pretty rude, but I think this was definitely a memorable show for me.  The amount of gems included in the setlist alone made it a truly unique experience alone.  Overall, I thought Jeff was really funny and seemed pretty comfortable jiving back and forth with the audience - obviously the part with the ignorant clapping guy got a little tense, but I thought Jeff was pretty justified in his reaction and most of the audience had his back on that fact.  I felt like overall, he played it off really well.

By a miracle of friendly connections I'll be at Largo on Monday night.  Can't wait to see Jeff in such an intimate setting and so thankful that I get to attend one of the nights, after the nightmare of a ticketing process.  Glad to see Dash 7 was at least a realistic option on the setlist for last night, as I've been requesting that one like crazy for Monday's Largo show.

I'm really glad we made the trip to Santa Barbara.  Jeff put on an excellent, excellent show.  As many have remarked previously, his playing and singing are really hitting on all cylinders right now.  Even with all the distractions and assholes, we got to see some truly remarkable performances of many awesome and rare tunes, which made it a really special evening for me.

Didn't go to this show, but curiosity and Google found me the setlist on this website/blog/thing: http://vocalsontop.com/2013/12/04/concert-review-jeff-tweedy-setlist-from-kansas-city-mo-12313/

Glad to see Chinese Apple getting some love!!!  Gives me hope for Santa Barbara...

And Radio Cure!!!!

• Solitaire
• I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
• Remember The Mountain Bed
• Sunken Treasure
• Long Time Ago (Golden Smog song)
• Passenger Side
• Dawned On Me
• Radio Cure
• Chinese Apple (Loose Fur song)
• Kamera
• One True Vine
• Ruling Class (Loose Fur song)
• You And I
• Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard
• Jesus Etc.
• Born Alone
• Not For The Season

• New Madrid (Uncle Tupelo song)
• California Stars
• The Thanks I Get
• Shot In The Arm
• Acuff Rose (Uncle Tupelo song)

Been requesting Dash 7 for Santa Barbara.  Also been requesting Chinese Apple and Wait up frequently.

Here's hoping we get a few new tunes at the solo shows!

Welp, Reflektor just shot to the top of my album of the year list. I listened to it 4 complete times in 30 hours; I've never done that with an album before.

I just got my vinyl copy in the mail this morning and it sounds sooooooo good.  Been listening to the album for a few days and I really enjoy it - more so with each repeated listen.  Love the Talking Heads/Punk Rock/Blondie vibe going on here.  Seeing them play at the Paladium on Halloween night!

Also - Corsicana Lemonade from White Denim is a great, great album.  Can't wait for the actual release so I can spin it over and over.

So exactly what constitutes interference and at what point does the team interfered with get an automatic run? Any experts here?

 

Not taking sides on this one, but I am not sure I understand the rule or even know what it is.

 

LouieB

"OBSTRUCTION is the act of a fielder who, while not in possession of the ball and not in the act of fielding the ball, impedes the progress of any runner.

If a fielder is about to receive a thrown ball, and if the ball is in flight, directly toward, and near enough to the fielder, so he must occupy his position to receive the ball, he may be considered "in the act of fielding a ball." It is entirely up to the judgment of the umpire, as to whether a fielder is in the act of fielding a ball. After a fielder has made an attempt to field a ball, and has missed, he can no longer be in the "act of fielding" the ball. For example: an infielder dives at a ground ball and the ball passes him and he continues to lie on the ground and delays the progress of the runner, he very likely has obstructed the runner."

Checked out the album stream the other day.  Really solid new album. 

Mumford and Sons.

Yes.

The custom shop nocasters are definitely the most classic tele sound. I was shopping to switch the pickups out of my tele back in the spring and I was lucky enough to have a local shop that let me play a few different guitars that already had various pickup configuration. I ended up going with the American vintage over the custom shop nocasters because they had a little more sparkle and bite which I needed for the kind of stuff I play. You cannot go wrong with nocasters though. They are THE tele sound IMHO.

 

Nobody listens to the (new) Avett Bros. anymore.....

That's cool if you feel that way. I've heard many express that sentiment. I hadn't heard anything off the newest album going into the show last night because I heard so many others gripe about it that I didn't bother taking the time to check out the things they've released. I was pretty blown away by all the tunes that I didn't know (that I assume must be from the forthcoming release). Whether you are into their new tunes or not, they still put on a hell of a live show. Last night was the first time I've seen them play Pretty Girl From Chile and it was one of the greatest things I've ever seen happen at a concert.

The Avett Brothers at The Shrine in LA tonight!

Tweedy and co. should take a note from Colin Meloy.  Ticket presale was done through Colin's website; and I got tickets for his solo show at The Fonda purchased and processed by 10:06AM today with no hassle.

I know the Fonda is definitely bigger than Largo, so the comparison is not entirely equal - but I have to say that The Fonda is a pretty small place overall and it was one of the easiest ticketing experiences I've had in quite some time.

Got tix for the front setion of the balcony in Santa Barabar.  Checked out some pictures of that place and it is a seriously beautiful theatre.  It will be a fun spot to see Jeff do his solo show.  Glad I got at least one show on this solo jaunt.  Now to cross my fingers and see if I know anyone who can get me into at least one show at Largo...

Really? I trust tried and it said sold out once I got to the "finish" button. Hurm.

I tried the same thing.  No dice.  It let's you input all your info then says SOLD OUT after it tries to create your tickets.  Super bummed about these shows.  I was at work when they released the higher priced tickets in the afternoon, so I missed that boat.  Going to call the Santa Barabara box office tomorrow morning to see what the best I can get for that show is.

Pretty shady that Largo released the 2nd batch of tickets at a higher price.  I went on and it was saying Sudnay night was now available, but then I went through all the checkout stuff to find out that it was really sold out even though it tried to sell me tickets.  That place and their website is f'd in the a.  I'm calling Santa Barabara on Monday morning to see if I can get any floor tickets for that venue.

So, did anyone around here get tix for Largo? 

What a bummer of a morning.  I can't believe how many times I thought I had tickets because the screen said "creating your tickets now, please wait" only to have the server time out at that point.  I guess there won't be any secondhand tix since all are will call with ID required for entry.

I can't believe how many times I've entered my info to no avail.  My girlfriend got to a page that said creating your tickets for the Wednesday show, but it looks like that may have timed out as well.  This is just crazy.

This Largo presale is BS.  I've entered my CC info at least 10 times and it just keeps giving me the server time out message.  Same with my girlfriend trying for another night.

We had respectively put our CC info in for both the Wednesday and Thursday shows.  Both of us just had the site say the server is too busy.

Happy Birthday Jeff! Thank you for sharing yourself with all of us.

I dig it. Definitely different from the stuff on D but cool enough that I'm curious to hear what else they've got going on with this record.

That was me, Dan.  I just figured out that Muzzle of Dan = Danimal on MMJ board.  I'm slow that way.    I make it easy, I use the same user name on all message boards!   

 

Yeah, Wilco were so red hot, I thought it was either the best or the second best Wilco show I've seen (the other being Aspen 2010).  They were soooo deep in the groove, so unstoppable, making it look so effortless.  They built up a huge momentum and rode it like a big wave.  New Madrid was killer.  So was At My Window and Casino Queen and Cinnamon Girl.  I even heard Impossible Germany like I was watching the Ashes dvd for the first time, blown away by its beauty and ferocious crescendo.  I never really loved When You Wake Up Feeling Old until this show, but they played that Bacharachian pop so perfectly, just lovely vocals and a great bass line from John.  Fantastic!  How do they utterly nail a song that they play so infrequently?  This band is like a fucking machine, I tell you, but a machine that is full of soul and an authentic spirit that connects them to a long and old musical tradition.  They blew me away again.  I don't know what it is that puts them in the special state of being where they play like this (and I don't think they do it every night, althought they are incredibly consistent in playing at a very high level night after night) but I'll chase them all over the country for just a chance to see another show like this one.  Viva Wilco!!!

Yeah - you're easier to recognize with the same names and what-not... One of these days I'll change my MMJ board name to a song like the one on this board.  After the amazingness of the Wiltern shows last year - I'm convinced to go with A Picture Of Dan (just to keep the theme and give a hint...)  They blew me away with the version of A Picture of You they played at the Wiltern.  Amazing.

I was also at the Aspen 2010 show!  It was my girlfriends first Wilco show and it was a stellar one for sure! 

They were definitely hitting on all cylinders at the Irvine show - even seeing the Bob Weir stuff at Shoreline and knowing that would have been jammy and super bad ass, I'll take the Irvine show.  It was special in a way no other Wilco show has been..  With all those Being There, AM, Mermaid Ave tunes - I thought there'd be some wide-eyed folks on this board who often recall the old days that would be into this setlist.

I was hoping for a cool collaboration, but who could have guessed Nancy Sinatra? Amazing. Talk about nailing a song they rarely play, it seemed like the played Bang Bang and Boots every day for a year. Funny how JT flubbed the words to HMD since that was Nancy's request. So surreal, I don't blame him at all.

I have a friend who's "in" with the band, they did an interview with Nels preceding the Irvine gig.  They were talking all about how Wilco was sweating bullets to play with Nancy Sinatra and how they were practicing their butts off to pull it off.

I noticed that it was the Rolling Thunder arrangement, too, with the different lyrics.  "Get ready! cuz tonight I'll be staying..."   Don't Do It, to my ears, was clearly the version by The Band, not Marvin Gaye or The Who.  For me, as such a huge fan of the Last Waltz and that performance in particular, that was the other highlight of the MMJ set, they rocked it so hard.  I loved Late For The Sky, too.  Jackson really is at the top of the heap of the sincere 70s singer songwriters, really a moving and beautiful song.

Don't Do It was definitely, %100 straight from The Last Waltz.  I'm a huge fan as well and MMJ transported me right to that moment of the Last Waltz with their Don't Do It.

I can't talk enough about the magic on Late For The Sky.  MMJ was absolutely the right band to play that song with Jackson Browne.  I consider myself personally lucky to have seen this show just for this collaboration alone - nevermind the million other things that made this one fo the coolest nights of music I've attended.

This was a seriously special and incredible night of music all around. 

Ryan Bingham and his band were excellent and fun to watch, even if I didn't know the songs.

MMJ was full of energy, as usual.  An excellent set, as I've come to expect from them.  The whole game changed when they brought out Jackson Browne and did Late For The Sky.  What an amazing song and inspired choice for collaboration between these two artitsts!  I was in shock as I stood listening to that beautiful song.  Don't Do It was also a great choice and rocked super hard.  Really awesome version of Wonderful with Taylor from Dawes taking a verse and playing some guitar bits too!

Wilco was on fire at this show.  It was so awesome having most of the songs pulled from Being There, Mermaid Ave and YHF.  When You Wake Up Feeling Old was a real treat, as well as getting to sing Happy Birthday to Stan.  Loved the collaborations with Nancy Sinatra - Boots was pure fun, Bang Bang was mesmerizing with Nels and Glenn.  Nels really is my favorite modern guitarist.

The most fun part of Wilco's set was hearing all Jeff's songs that reference St. Louis (HMD, New Madrid and Casino Queen).  I'm a native of the STL but reside in Los Angeles now.  It was a real treat to have Jeff and the gang play all those tunes that take me back.  Both New Madrid and Casino Queen were smoking renditions - especially with the bits from Richard Bowden (who also ripped it up on Forget The Flowers).  Someone put it really well on the MMJ board when they likened Wilco's rendition of Casino Queen to a performance from the Stones in 72.  So much energy, fun and rock n' roll flowing out from all the performers.

Overall, I felt really fortunate to see Wilco play a show that was so focused on acoustic, folky, rock n' roll material.  It's not really something I've seen them spend a lot of time on in other sets and even though this was a short one, the band found ways to make it really special.  Not to mention, I've seen Wilco 11 times now and even with a short set, I was able to catch 3 "new to me" live Wilco tunes (not even counting the cover songs)!  Loved hearing At My Window... what a great tune with such beautiful harmonies.

Wilco and MMJ do a killer collaboration on Cinnamon Girl.  The harmonies sound great with all those voices and the rockin' guitars were spot on.  Every time there a bunch of people on stage sitting in, it looked like they were all having a big musical party.  So much fun!

Even Dylan seemed to enjoy himself, even if his performance was a little strange to see.  It was still cool to see him, his band was amazing; and the version they did of All Along The Watchtower was super.  Love seeing Jeff, Jim and RB come out to join Dylan on The Weight.  All in all - it was a really special night of music.

Arcade Fire is excellent live.  I don't know that I'd put them at number 4 of all current performing acts.  Personally, I would have definitely ranked Wilco higher than them.

Paul McCartney should be higher than 15 for sure.  His shows are rad.  What a great performer.